A Bench of Justices PB Varale and AS Kilor said that while the public representatives have the liberty to raise issues of public importance, “being a respectable and sensible person, better choice of words is also expected.”
The Court was hearing a plea by Shelar seeking quashing of the first information report (FIR) registered against him based on a complaint by Pednekar.
The dispute arose when Shelar held a press conference regarding a cylinder blast that took place at a chawl in Mumbai’s Worli. While he was speaking about the reaction of the mayor to the unfortunate incident, he used the term ‘sleeping’ which aggrieved the mayor.
A complaint was filed by Pednekar who alleged that Shelar made derogatory remarks against her which carried double-meaning and outraged her modesty. The Mumbai Police filed an FIR based on the complaint which came to be challenged before the Bombay High Court.
Source: Barandbench
