New Delhi [India], Sept. 7 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant a stay on the arrest of music composer Vishal Dadlani, who is facing charges of hurting religious sentiments through his tweets on noted Jain monk Tarun Sagar.
Several FIRs and complaints have been lodged against Dadlani after his tweet on the monk caused a massive outrage.
Dadlani's lawyer told the apex court in the hearing today, that a political vendetta is being hatched against him and that he needs protection from arrest, for which the court refused and asked Dadlani to approach the Bombay High Court.
When his lawyer persisted on protection at least till the High Court was approached, the request was denied again.
On August 29th, Tarun Sagar, referred to as Maharaj ji by followers, was invited to address all Haryana state lawmakers.
Dadlani was critical of the speech, suggesting that it reflected an unhealthy trend of religion colouring politics.
"That dude has the same education, as he has clothes on. None. I've no problem with nudity. I have a problem with religion in governance," Dadlani tweeted. "People actually trying to defend the colossal idiocy of some naked monk, addressing Haryana assembly, telling women how to live! UNREAL!," he added.
He later deleted his comment on his Twitter handle and issued a public apology to the Jain community. "I apologise again, to the Jain Community, (and) all others offended. But I beg you all not to support religion in governance, for India's sake," Dadlani said. However, the whole episode has led Dadalni to quit politics, which he announced on Twitter. "It feel bad that I hurt my Jain friends (and) my friends @ArvindKejriwal (and) @SatyendarJain. I hereby quit all active political work/affiliation," he tweeted. However, the Monk later said that the 'forgives' Dadlani and told ANI that the music sensation does not know anything about the Jain monks, Jainism or their beliefs, adding that had he known about that, he would not have made such a comment.
"He just knows that the Digambar Sadhus remain naked. He does not know about the Indian culture. Had he known about that, he would not have made such a comment. There is no question of apology as I am not angry with him. But the people of the society who respects me get hurt and they protest. Everyone should have the courage to say something which is wrong," the holy man added. Dubbing the incident as 'unfortunate', Delhi Home Minister Satyendra Jain said Dadlani has apologised for what he said unintentionally.
"I had come to apologise but he had forgiven already. He said we are sadhus.we have sacrificed clothes.we do not keep these things in mind. I think he should not have made such a comment," he added. A complaint in regard to the matter was received at the Chembur police station in Mumbai against Dadlani about his tweet on Jain Muni Tarun Sagar.
"We are looking into the complaint and taking legal opinion, then we will take a call on this," Mumbai DCP Zone 6 Shahaji Umap told ANI.
Meanwhile, noted director Farah Khan has come out in support of Dadlani saying that in a democracy everyone should have the right to place their opinions.
Source: ANI
