A Metropolitan Magistrate Jaydeo Khule of Bandra Metropolitan Court ordered an FIR to be filed against Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for spreading communal violence based upon a private complaint filed before the court. The judge said that “on prima facie perusal of complaint and submissions, I found the cognizable offence has been committed by the accused. Total allegations are based upon a comment on electronic media, Twitter, and interviews. The accused used social media like Twitter. A thorough investigation is necessary by the expert, search and seizure are necessary in this case”.
The complaint stated that Ranaut was “creating divisions between communities and spreading communal hatred”, it further stated that “police investigation is necessary to ascertain the real motive behind such hate tweets and who are people who are backing such hatred to create communal tension and sentiments”.
Lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee representing the complainant said that “order passed by the learned magistrate shall be dealt with on merits as per the procedure of law. Right of speech and expression should not be constructed as promoting communal disharmony”.
The complainant said that both the sisters have committed the crime under Section 152A, 295A, and Section 124 r/w 34 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860. The purpose of Section 153A is to punish a person who vilifies any religion, place of birth, residence language, etc, Section 295A is a Section to punish deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings by insulting any religion. Section 124 is when any person assaults Presidents, Governor, etc with intent to compel or restrain the exercise of any lawful power for wrongfully restraining or for assaulting such President or Governor shall be punished and Section 34 of IPC relates to the acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention.
The Complainant, in this case, is Munawwar Ali Sayyed, a casting director, and fitness trainer, who accused both the sisters of the above offences. He said that he is been observing Kangana’s activity on social media and it says that Kangana is trying to show the Bollywood industry as a hub of nepotistic and drug-addicted people who do favoritism and this has created a bad image of the industry as well as the created communal divide between two communities. He also said that Kangana has referred to Mumbai as POK and also created a rift between the artists of different religions.
