Kangana Ranaut has "constitutional right" to express her thoughts: Bombay HC

The Bombay High Court remarked that there was insufficient reason to block actress Kangana Ranaut from Twitter based on the petition filed by Advocate Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh. The bench led by Justice S.S Shinde and M.S Karthik also noted that the petition was "vague" as it could not establish how the fundamental rights of the petitioner had been breached.

Advocate Deshmukh, who had earlier filed other petitions against Kangana and her sister Rangoli Chandel, states that he had been deeply offended by Kangana's likening of Mumbai to "Pakistani Occupied Kasmir (PoK)". He also pointed out instances where Kangana had openly disseminated hateful and communal speech on social media platforms. Justice Shinde pointed out that communal speech was a different matter since the petition was based on a personal insult.

However, the court said that the petition would be better off as a Public Interest Litigation and that Kangana had a fundamental right to express herself on social media.

"Any individual can have this account. She also has the fundamental right to have an account to express her thoughts," said Justice Shinde as reported by India Today. "Unless the case comes under the reasonable restrictions, can we accede to your request? If you have to judge what will you do?"

The last hearing for the petition has been set for January 7.