Mumbai:
The Bombay High Court is likely to hear today a petition from actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister, seeking to cancel a First Information Report (FIR) registered against them. A case has been filed against them over allegations of making objectionable comments on social media aimed at provoking communal tension.
Ms Ranaut and her sister, Rangoli Chandel, had been asked to appear before Mumbai Police yesterday and today over “objectionable comments” on social media.
The sisters were summoned twice before – on October 26 and 27 and on November 9 and 10 – but they did not appear before the police. They had said through their lawyer that they were busy with their brother’s wedding in Himachal Pradesh till November 15.
Mumbai Police then issued a third notice ordering Kangana Ranaut and Rangoli Chandel to appear for questioning on November 23 and 24 respectively.
Casting director and fitness trainer Munawwar Ali Sayyed filed a complaint against the sisters for allegedly promoting enmity between communities through their comments on social media handles.
A metropolitan magistrate’s court in Mumbai’s Bandra had ordered the police to investigate the complaint.
Mumbai Police had charged the 33-year-old actor and her sister in an FIR with sedition, promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion and race and hurting religious sentiment. They also asked the sisters to appear before the police.
Kangana Ranaut has been in the thick of controversies this year because of an ugly face-off with Mumbai Police and the Maharashtra government over her criticism of the Sushant Singh Rajput investigation. Her remarks about feeling unsafe in Mumbai and comparing the city to PoK led to an escalation in which she accused Mumbai’s civic body of targeting her with demolitions at her office.
