ORDER :

1. Violence is the most extreme threat to freedom of expression. Many have paid with their lives for exercising this basic human right. Timothy Garton Ash in his seminal work "Free Speech" would call it as "the assassin's veto." When Ayatollah Khomeini issued fatwa to kill Salman Rushdie, V.S. Naipaul remarked that assassination is an extreme form of literary criticism. Long back, an American free speech scholar Harry Kalven Junior coined the term "heckler's veto" to describe the way a speaker can be silenced in a public meeting. To these can be added "the prosecutor's veto." It is setting the criminal law in motion targeting those legitimately exercising their right of speech and expression.

2. A recent instance is the registration of FIR in Muzaffarpur District against 49 celebrities, including Ramchandra Guha, Aparna Sen, Mani Ratnam. They had written an open letter to the Prime Minister of India expressing concern over certain developments. A Muzaffarpur based lawyer Sudhir Kumar Ojha filed a case against them in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate. Based on the direction given by the court, an FIR came to be registered for sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace. This caused considerable consternation to the enlightened citizenry. It is now reported that the FIR has since been closed. But, the complainant has stated that he intends to file a protest petition.

3. One can recall a spate of private complaints filed in various courts across the country against the renowned artist Maqbool Fida Husain. Some of his paintings were charged as vulgar and obscene. Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul sitting in Delhi High Court (as His Lordship then was) quashed the criminal proceedings after authoritatively laying down what the law of obscenity is. This eloquent decision reported in Maqbool Fida Husain vs. Raj Kumar Pandey, 2008 Crl. L.J. 4107 concludes on this evocative note - "A painter at 90 deserves to be in his home-painting his canvass."

4. The case of the petitioner is no different. K. Rajanarayanan popularly known as "Ki.Ra." is an acclaimed tamil writer. An English translation of his novel "Gopallapuram" published by Penguin India carries the following blurb:

“Ki. Rajanarayanan (b. 1922) has spent over five decades gathering the most exotic tales of his favourite land, Karisal Kadu-the scorched drought-stricken land in Tamil Nadu. Popularly known as Ki. Ra. he is a powerful storyteller. His short story "Mayamaan" (1958) is considered the hallmark of the golden age of modern Tamil literature. An English translation of his collection of folk tales, Where Are You Going, You Monkeys, was recently published to much acclaim. He has been the recipient of the prestigious Kalaimamani and Sahitya Akademi awards.”

5. There are many who believe that he deserves the highest literary honour, namely, the Jnanpith Award. The impeccable standing and credentials of Ki.Ra., did not however deter the first respondent herein from filing a complaint before the court of Judicial Magistrate No. 2, Madurai against him. The petitioner was interviewed by a magazine "The Sunday Indian" for its issue dated 30th September 2012. He was questioned as to why he had not written on Dalit life. Ki.Ra replied that since he is not acquainted with their dialect, he did not attempt to portray their lives.

6. The complainant herein found two things seriously objectionable in the remarks of the petitioner. The complainant belongs to a community known as "Pallar" that has been notified as a Scheduled Caste in Tamil Nadu. They proudly called themselves as Devendra Kula Velalar. In fact, a section of the community is demanding that they should be independently categorized and not included as a Scheduled Caste. The complainant would point out that the use of expression "Dalit" has been frowned upon by the Bombay High Court as well as in the communication issued by the Governmental authorities. But, more t