Bengaluru: Lavanya Ballal Jain, a spokesperson for the Congress party, has become the target of online trolling after a heated TV debate with BJP spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla. The incident occurred during a live interview where Poonawalla made comments on Jain's name, leading to a sharp exchange between the two.

Lavanya Ballal Jain took to social media to express her displeasure, accusing Poonawalla of insulting her name and religion during the TV interview. She referred to the BJP spokesperson as a 'cheapster' and urged him to refrain from making vulgar comments during interviews. In a post on X (formerly Twitter), Jain claimed that Poonawalla was on the payroll of one of the richest Jain individuals, indirectly alluding to Gautam Adani.

The controversy escalated when Shehzad Poonawalla posted a video clip of the TV interview on his social media account, questioning why Jain was triggered by his factual statements. The video showed Poonawalla discussing developmental projects by the Centre in southern states and challenging Jain on Congress's contributions to development.

During the debate, Poonawalla mockingly referred to Lavanya Ballal Jain as 'Lavanya BJ,' leading to a sharp retort from Jain. She demanded that Poonawalla refrain from making vulgar inferences and accused him of insulting her name with sly and derogatory comments.

Following the TV debate, Lavanya Ballal Jain faced online trolling and derogatory remarks on social media platforms, particularly on X, where the hashtag #LavanyaBJ gained traction. The hashtag contains a derogatory term, further intensifying the online attacks against the Congress spokesperson.

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New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Monday dismissed a plea of the Jharkhand government against the high court’s decision quashing criminal cases against state BJP leaders and MP Nishikant Dubey over protests held in Ranchi in 2023, observing that prohibitory orders are misused whenever there is a protest.

A bench of Justices Abhay S Oka and Ujjal Bhuyan said it is not inclined to interfere with the August 14, 2024 order of the high court and dismissed the appeal.

At the outset, the counsel appearing for the Jharkhand government said despite prohibitory orders under section 144 of the CrPC in place, the accused held a protest which turned violent and several people, including administrative officials, were injured. The high court erred in its finding and said they have the right to protest, the counsel said.

The bench observed that nowadays there is tendency to impose prohibitory orders, whenever there is protest.

"If we interfere, it will send the wrong signal. What is the requirement of issuing orders under section 144 of CrPC, if somebody wants to hold a demonstration. This happens because section 144 of CrPC is being misused," the bench said.

The counsel said the protest turned violent and stone pelting was done.

The protest was held by the Central and state BJP leaders on April 11, 2023 in Ranchi, in which over 5,000 people participated at a time when prohibitory orders under section 144 of CrPC were in place.

In August last year, the high court, while quashing the case registered against the BJP leaders, said the right of people to hold peaceful protests and demonstrations, etc is a fundamental right guaranteed under Articles 19(1)(a) and 19(1)(b) of the Constitution.

"Right to protest is recognised as a fundamental right under the Constitution of India. Further, this right is crucial in a democracy which rests on participation of an informed citizenry in governance and it strengthens representative democracy by enabling direct participation in public affairs where individuals and groups are able to express dissent and grievances, expose the flaws in governance and demand accountability from the State authorities as well as powerful entities," it had said.

The high court said holding peaceful demonstrations by the citizenry in order to air its grievances and to ensure that these grievances are heard in the relevant quarters is its fundamental right.