
The Supreme Court today quashed the criminal cases against Khushboo that alleged the actress had defamed Tamil women by justifying premarital sex in a magazine interview five years back.
Her counsel Pinky Anand had urged a bench headed by Chief Justice of India K.G. Balakrishnan to quash the 22 cases, filed by individuals and organisations, saying the actress’s remarks amounted to “fair comment”, protected by the right to freedom of speech and expression guaranteed by the Constitution. Khushboo, a mother of two, had claimed that her words were taken out of context to suggest she had urged women to be immoral.
Anand said the actress was “being harassed and victimised at the behest of vested interests who have filed the false, frivolous and malafide complaints against her with the sole motive of getting political mileage and publicity”.
“Her fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression cannot be impinged upon by vested persons who have unleashed a campaign of filing systematic complaints in various courts,” Anand had told the apex court.
Told about today’s verdict by her lawyer, Khushboo, in London for a shoot, said: “I am thrilled. I knew justice would prevail.”
“The interview was about AIDS awareness. During that, I had said women who indulged in sex even before their marriage should take care to protect themselves against sexually transmitted diseases and pregnancy,” she added.
Khushboo, who has a temple to her name built by fans, has been on bail in the cases since November 16, 2005. Madras High Court had in April 2008 consolidated the cases but refused to quash the trial. On appeal, the Supreme Court stayed all the proceedings on May 15 last year.
But during final hearings last month, the apex court had itself courted controversy when it sought to know from several of the complainants in the case whether premarital sex was a crime under Indian law. It might fall short of the majoritarian values but did not conflict with the law, the court had said.
On today’s judgment, Khushboo further said she had anticipated a positive verdict and pointed to the judges’ observations last month that there was no law against premarital sex or a couple living together without getting married.
The campaign against Khushboo was also political: she was anchoring a popular game show on Jaya TV and the coverage against her remarks was hyped up by rival channel Sun TV and its evening daily Tamil Murasu.
“The aim was to derail her game show but Khushboo cleverly apologised to defuse the crisis and chose to fight her case legally, which has paid off ultimately,” said an actress in Chennai close to Khushboo.