Communal Slurs in ‘Poor Taste’ but ‘Don’t Hurt Religious Sentiments’ says SC; SP MLA Abu Azmi Suspended from Maharashtra Assembly for Aurangzeb Remark; How AAP Missed the Point About Politics in Delhi

A newsletter from The Wire | Founded by Tanweer Alam, Sidharth Bhatia, Pratik Kanjilal, Seema Chishti, Sushant Singh, MK Venu, and Siddharth Varadarajan | Contributing writer: Kalrav Joshi, with additional inputs by Anirudh SK

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Over to Sidharth Bhatia for today’s Cable

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Snapshot of the day

March 5, 2025

Sidharth Bhatia

Discharging a man accused of hurting the religious sentiments of a government official by allegedly referring to him as “miyan-tiyan” and “Pakistani”, the Supreme Court has said that while the remarks are in “poor taste”, they “do not amount” to the offence alleged. “The appellant is accused of hurting the religious feelings of the informant by calling him ‘miyan-tiyan’ and ‘Pakistani.’ Undoubtedly, the statements made are in poor taste. However, it does not amount to hurting the religious sentiments of the informant. Hence, we are of the opinion that the appellant shall be discharged under Section 298 IPC,” a Bench of Justices B V Nagarathna and S C Sharma said in its February 11, 2024, order. The accused, Hari Nandan Singh, had approached the SC challenging the Jharkhand High Court’s refusal to quash the case against him.

Samajwadi Party legislator Abu Azmi was suspended from attending the remainder of the Maharashtra assembly session a day after he told ANI that Aurangzeb was “not cruel”, did not believe in violently converting Hindus to Islam and was a good administrator.