There are holy cows from Varanasi to Vadipatti, dare not poke fun at them, says Madras HC
Madurai (TN), Dec 21: India has "holy cows" grazing from Varanasi in Uttar Pradesh to Vadipatti in Tamil Nadu and one dare not poke fun at them, the Madras High Court has held and said the Constitution would probably do with an amendment for "duty to laugh."
All over the country, national security happens to be the "ultimate holy cow," the Madras High Court Bench observed.
The court's observation came while quashing a police FIR filed against a person for a Facebook post of photos with an accompanying caption "Trip to Sirumalai for shooting practice," apparently written in a lighter vein.
Justice G R Swaminathan invoked well-known satirists, cartoonists and journalists and said had they authored the judgement, "they would have proposed a momentous amendment to the Constitution of India to incorporate sub-clause (l) in Article 51-A," which deals with duty related to abiding by the Constitution and uphold and protect the sovereignty, unity and integrity of India among others.
"To this, the hypothetical author would have added one more fundamental duty- duty to laugh. The correlative right to be funny can be mined in Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India (the use of crypto vocabulary to be forgiven)," the judge said in his recent order.
Being funny is one thing and poking fun at another is different altogether, he added.
"Laugh at what? is a serious question. This is because we have holy cows grazing all over from Varanasi to Vadipatty. One dare not poke fun at them. There is however no single catalogue of holy cows. It varies from person to person and from region to region."
"A real cow, even if terribly underfed and emaciated, shall be holy in Yogi's terrain. In West Bengal, Tagore is such an iconic figure that Khushwant Singh learnt the lesson at some cost. Coming to my own Tamil Desh, the all-time iconoclast Periyar Shri E V Ramasamy is a super-holy cow. In today's Kerala, Marx and Lenin are beyond the bounds of criticism or satire. Chhatrapati Shivaji and Veer Savarkar enjoy a similar immunity in Maharashtra. But all over India, there is one ultimate holy cow and that is national security, the judge said.
Petitioner Mathivanan, an office-bearer of CPI (ML), had sought quashing the FIR registered by Vadipatti police in Madurai over his Facebook post that carried his pictures of a visit to Siruamalai with the caption in Tamil-- "Thuppakki Payirchikaga Sirumalai Payanam," translating to "Trip to Sirumalai for shooting practice."
"The petitioner herein is an important office-bearer of a not-so-important political party. CPI (ML) is now an over-ground organization which contests elections also. Paper warriors are also entitled to fantasise that they are swadeshi Che Guevaras," the judge said.
"Revolutionaries, whether real or phoney, are not usually credited with any sense of humour (or at least this is the stereotype). For a change, the petitioner tried to be funny. Perhaps it was his maiden attempt at humour," the judge said.
But the police did not "find it to be a joke" and booked him under different sections of IPC, including collecting arms with intention of waging war against the Government of India and criminal intimidation by an anonymous communication (IPC 507), the judge pointed out.
He said invoking IPC Section 507 "makes me laugh."
"Section 507 IPC can be invoked only if the person sending the communication had concealed his identity. The communication must be anonymous. In this case, the petitioner had posted the photographs along with the caption in his Facebook page. He has not concealed his identity. There is nothing anonymous about the act in question," he said.
In fact, none of the ingredients set out in the sections under which he was booked were present in the case, the court said.
"The very registration of the impugned FIR is absurd and an abuse of legal process. It stands quashed," the judge ruled.
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Real Madrid fines Valverde and Tchouaméni half a million euros each for altercation
Barcelona (AP): Real Madrid slapped players Federico Valverde and Aurélien Tchouaméni with half-a-million-euro ($588,000) fines on Friday for their altercation during practice.
The massive fines came a day after the midfielders tussled when the team trained. Valverde said in a post on social media on Thursday that no punches were thrown. But Valverde knocked his head on a table and he suffered a small cut that required a brief hospital visit.
On social media, Valverde initially called it a “meaningless fight” with a teammate and said “everything has been blown out of proportion."
His employers, however, considered it a significant enough breach of team discipline to nail both Valverde and Tchouaméni with fines that bite even the bank account of a top soccer player. The half-a-million euro penalties reflect the reputational damage the club was enduring in a chaotic end to a disappointing season.
In a statement, the 15-time European champion said its disciplinary action was concluded after both players expressed to the club “their complete remorse for what happened and apologized to one another.”
Madrid added they also apologized to their teammates, the coaching staff and club supporters, as well as showing their willingness to accept whatever disciplinary action the club deemed “opportune.”
Tchouaméni was back training with Madrid on Friday, two days before they play at Barcelona in a clasico. Madrid has to win otherwise Barcelona will be crowned La Liga champion.
After being notified of the fine, he posted a public apology to the club and its fans on social media.
“What happened this week in training is unacceptable,” Tchouaméni wrote. "I say this while thinking about the example we are expected to set for young people, whether in football or at school.
“Above all, I am sorry for the image we projected of the club.”
Valverde was not at practice due to the head knock.
Both players are set to play in the World Cup next month, with Tchouaméni playing for France and Valverde for Uruguay.
Chaotic end to a poor season
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The run-in between the players, who for seasons have played side by side in Madrid's midfield, came after they argued this week in previous training sessions. But tempers boiled over on Thursday. Spanish media was rife with reports that the players previously disagreed over the club's decision to let coach Xabi Alonso go after just months on the job.
It was not the only altercation involving Madrid players during training this week. Álvaro Carreras confirmed he was in a “minor” incident with a teammate. Spanish media said he and fellow defender Antonio Rüdiger got into a scuffle.
Álvaro Arbeloa, the coach who was promoted from Madrid's reserve team when Alonso was fired in January, will face tough questions on what went wrong inside the changing room when he gives a press conference on Saturday ahead of the clasico at Camp Nou.
Madrid is facing a second consecutive campaign without a major trophy amid rumors in the Spanish media that club president Florentino Pérez is considering bringing back Jose Mourinho to straighten out his underperforming team.
