New Delhi: The ‘Vande Mataram’ inspires love and reverence from any Indian worth their salt. It inspires a feeling of patriotism like no other song can… save for our National Anthem.One does not require to be told by law to respect a song that embodies the struggle and the fight for freedom.
It is in this light that our country’s apex court has dismissed a special leave petition filed against the Delhi High Court’s order that refuses a plea to grant legal protection to the ‘Vande Mataram” equalling the ‘Jana Gana Mana.”
The special leave petition filed against the Delhi HC order was dismissed at the very outset by the three-judge bench led by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra including Justice A M Khanwilkar and Justice D Y Chandrachud, after hearing the petitioner’s learned senior counsel Pravin H Parekh.
The Delhi HC had dismissed the writ moved by Gautam Morarka, seeking an amendment in the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, to incorporate provisions to ensure that the “Vande Mataram” be treated with the respect and dignity that it deserves on par with the “Jana Gana Mana.”
The bench however, observed that the song by itself commands respect and love without any enforcement by the law, and agreed that it deserved the respect and the regard.
The Delhi HC bench stated, “Though there can be no dispute with the writ petitioner that the song ‘ Vande Mataram ’ deserves the regard and respect which has been recognised by the respondents and has been noted by the Supreme Court of India in the aforesaid order, we are unable to grant the prayers made in the writ petition.”
