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Uttar Pradesh: The Allahabad High Court on Monday quashed criminal proceedings against Congress leader and Senior Advocate Salman Khurshid for a remark he made against Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath during the 2019 Lok Sabha election campaign [Salman Khurshid v. State of UP].
Khurshid was alleged to have said “Rishte me hum unke baap lagte hain” in reference to Adityanath.
The dialogue is from an Amitabh Bachchan movie, Shahenshah.
Justice Dinesh Kumar Singh quashed the case, noting that Khurshid had filed a personal affidavit and also expressed regret over the said comment.
“Once the petitioner has regretted his comments/statement and has made it clear that he never intended to hurt the feelings and sentiments of anyone or Sri Yogi Adityanath and he made the said statement only in the lighter vein while responding to some questions put up by journalists, I am of the view that the impugned proceedings should be quashed,” the order stated.
The judge added that when a person utters something in the spur of the moment with no intention to hurt the feelings and sentiments of others, and if the person regrets making such a statement, the Court should take a larger view of the matter and quash the proceedings.
“Regret is tough but fair teacher. To live without regret is to believe you have nothing to learn, no amends to make, and no opportunity to be braver with your life,” the judge said in the order.
Former Union Law Minister Khurshid had made the comment in response to a question posed by journalists on a statement Adityanath had previously made.
The CM had allegedly said that Khurshid was a sympathizer of the accused in the 2008 Batla House case, in which some terrorists and one police inspector were killed.
Counsel for Khurshid submitted that the statement, which is a famous dialogue from the 1988 film Shahenshah, was made in lighter vein, without any intention to be disrespectful to the Chief Minister.
In view of the affidavit submitted by Khurshid tendering an apology, and considering the overall facts and circumstances of the case, the Court was of the view that the continuation of the criminal proceedings against him would be unjust.
“The present petition is allowed and the entire proceedings of Sessions Trial No.01 of 2019 (State vs. Salman Khurshid), arising out of Case Crime No.353 of 2019, under Sections 153 A, 171-G IPC and Section 125 of the Representation of the People Act, 1951, Police Station Farrukhabad Kotwali, District Fatehgarh, pending in the court of Special Judge (SC/ST Act), Farrukhabad, are hereby quashed,” the Court ordered.
Khurshid was represented by Senior Advocate SG Hasnain and Advocate Syed Mohd. Fazal.
