NEW DELHI, Feb 2026 : The Supreme Court on Wednesday sent a message to public officials in high constitutional offices – ‘don’t vilify and degenerate any community’.
The court stressed that public figures, particularly those holding high constitutional offices, such as ministers, must not target any community on the basis of religion, caste, language, or region, as it violates the Constitution.
On the ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’ controversy, Justice Ujjal Bhuyan observed: “It is constitutionally impermissible for anybody, be it the State or non-State actors, through any medium, such as, speeches, memes, cartoons, visual arts, etc. to vilify and denigrate any community.”
“It will be violative of the Constitution to target a community on basis of religion, language, caste, or region, by whosoever he or she may be,” he said, “This is particularly true for public figures in high constitutional office who have taken a solemn oath to uphold the Constitution.”
Justice Bhuyan made these observations in a separate judgment on challenges to ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’, a forthcoming Hindi-language movie produced by streaming platform Netflix.
A two-judge bench that also included Justice BV Nagarathna was hearing the case.
Directed by Neeraj Pandey and starring Manoj Bajpayee, the film sparked a major political and social row after many on social media claimed the title ‘defames’ the Brahmin community.
The case was closed after the filmmakers agreed to change the title.
Picture credit social media
