The Punjab and Haryana High Court on Tuesday asked music composer and singer Vishal Dadlani and politician Tehseen Poonawalla to pay Rs1 million (Dh52,574) each to get the FIRs against them cancelled.
Allowing the FIR to be quashed, Justice Arvind Singh Sangwan said that both will have to pay Rs1 million first.
The High Court said that the fine was imposed to give a message so that no one mocked heads of religious sects.
The court observed that the petitioners (Dadlani and Poonwalla) had played mischief to gain publicity.
Dadlani and Poonawalla were booked by the Haryana Police in August 2016 in Ambala Cantt. for hurting the religious sentiments of the Jain community.
They had made comments on social media in August 2016 after the Haryana government had invited Jain monk, Muni Tarun Sagar, to address the Haryana assembly on August 25, 2016.
Both had moved the High Court for quashing the FIR after the Supreme Court, in September 2016, directed them to approach the High Court.
The case against both was registered “for deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings and other offences” under Sections 295-A, 153-A and 509 of the IPC (Indian Penal Code) at Ambala Cantonment police station.
