CHENNAI: There is nothing objectionable in the advertisements issued by the People for the Ethical Treatment to Animals (PETA) on its website, the first bench of the Madras High Court has ruled.
The bench of Chief Justice SK Kaul and Justice M Sundar gave the ruling on Wednesday while dismissing, according to the bench, an ‘unnecessary public interest’ writ petition, from Dinesh, who had studied only up to Class XII and was working as a supplier in a hotel. He sought to ban the organisation in India.
In the typed set of papers, petitioner’s counsel A Lobamudra had enclosed certain material in support of her claim that the advertisements by PETA in its website are sexy. “On a perusal of the same, we find nothing of this sort,” the bench quipped. There are photographs of women sparsely clad propagating non-use of fur and such other materials, which affect the rights of animals. In any case, nothing compels the petitioner to necessarily visit the website of the organisation and then claim that he is provoked by its content, which has given one of the causes to file the present petition,” the bench observed.
The bench said it had repeatedly asked Lobamudra as to under what law could the court issue a mandamus to ban an organisation. It would be the prerogative of the Executive, if any law is violated, to take action against any such organisation, the bench pointed out.
“We find this (PIL) a misadventure, (filed) only for publicity sake given the current social context of the role of PETA vis-a-vis the jallikattu issue,” the bench added and dismissed the PIL.