Tolerance level has gone down, High Court rues
The tolerance level of the people has gone down, the Bombay High Court today remarked while dealing with a petition filed by an author who is facing criminal case for using the term ‘Ghati’.
Marzban Shroff, the author of story-collection ‘Breathless In Bombay", is facing a criminal case for using the word ‘Ghati’ in one of the stories in the book. The word is used in Mumbai for referring to Maharashtrians, in a slightly derogatory sense.
However, Shroff, who is seeking quashing of the criminal complaint, maintains that he never meant to insult any community, and the word has been used in the fictional dialogue.
Justice V M Kanade, himself a Maharashtrian, seemed to agree with the author. "Ghati is common slang word. For every community there are such words," the judge observed.
"There are many such words for Parsis, but they don’t mind it.
All these wolves in sheep clothing must be exposed, put through the wringer of law and punsihed. An example needs to be made of them so no one happily go around makeing derogatory comments about people whose views, actions, skin-color they dislike..
One can be educated, renowned, rich etc and still be a racist. This attitude must be curbed.
Goodness, I was under the mistaken impression that India was the world’s largest democracy. But I suppose freedom of thought and expression is too painful for the free market to bear. Yes, let’s flog this pesky writer,at the very least,put him through the wringer and make an example of him. And his books will be flying off the shelves with all the publicity the censors have so generously bestowed on him.
Long live democracy! (Ohe–sorry uncle, don’t flog me too! I’m just the messenger!)
I loved coming over to this site, amazed to see such articles, didnt thought all were gone to such limits of proclamations. Noticing it all today.