Why it is in news?
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The Supreme Court threw out a petition seeking a ban on the Malayalam novel Meesha (Moustache), written by S. Hareesh, as it was perceived to be ‘derogatory’ to temple-going Hindu women.
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The court said the creativity and imagination of an author cannot be held hostage to the vagaries of subjective perceptions whims or fancies of individuals.
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The court assured that it would safeguard the free flow of ideas in a democracy by quoting Voltaire’s “I may disapprove of what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it.”
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The court said the judiciary should remain committed to keeping the flag of democratic values and ideals of freedom and liberty flying high.
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The judgment said, “A writer should have free play with words, like a painter has it with colours. The passion of imagination cannot be directed.”
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It is for the reader to read a creative work with a mature spirit, catholicity of approach, objective tolerance and a sense of acceptability founded on reality, it said.
Intellectual cowardice
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The Chief Justice wrote that creative voices cannot be allowed to slip into a mode of “intellectual cowardice.”
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The court held that the language used in the dialogue cannot remotely be thought of as obscene.
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The concept of defamation does not arise. Nurturing the idea that it is derogatory and hurtful to the temple-going is baseless.
Source
The Hindu