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The Kerala High Court condemned the actions of the activist Rehana Fathima who posted incriminating material on Social Media. Rehana Fathima had uploaded a video of a cookery show on social media which was captioned ‘ Gomatha Ularthu’ in which she was seen depicting herself preparing the recipe and repeatedly using the word ‘Gomatha’. The court held that using the word Gomatha as a synonym for meat in a show will hurt the feelings of thousands of Hindu devotees. It is a well-established fact that Hindus worship cows as their God. The court observed that there cannot be any dispute in this matter that the term ‘Gomatha’ is widely used in reference to the sacredness and holiness of the Cow. The complainants also quoted the scriptures to show that since the Vedic period, cows are revered as holy as deities. A single-judge Bench of Justice Sunil Thomas while referring to the antecedent of the accused stated that Fathima was in violation of certain conditions on which she was enlarged on bail. While she was enlarged on bail she was again accused of posting incriminating and derogatory material about deity Ayyappa of Sabarimala.
Thus, in this case, the High Court of Kerala while granting the bail to Fathima directed that she should not post through print, electronic, or visual media share or forward any materials or posts that would adversely affect the religious sentiments of any community. The present petition was filed before the High court of Kerala praying to cancel the bail order granted to Fathima as she was again spotted posting objectionable content on social media. The court agreed to the submissions of the petitioner but instead of canceling the bail order, it directed the accused to refrain from using any visual or electronic media to publish any materials that would hurt the sentiment of any community. The court held that there was sufficient ground for the cancelation of bail but it refrained from taking such steps but instead imposed restrictions on the accused. Further, the court also ordered the removal of the video from the social media handle and directed Fathima to report to the concerned jurisdictional police station every Monday and Saturday between 9 am and 10 am for 3 months.
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