A case was registered against National Award-winning actor Prakash Raj in a Lucknow court on Wednesday on the basis of a complaint filed by a lawyer, Sardar Parvinder Singh, over Raj’s recent remarks against Prime Minister Narendra Modi, ANI reported. The case is scheduled to be heard on Saturday.
At an event on October 1, Raj had said that Modi and Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Adityanath were more deserving of his five National Awards as they were better actors thah he was. He also criticised the prime minister for his silence on journalist Gauri Lankesh’s murder on September 5 and for not denouncing those who had expressed joy over her death.
“Gauri’s killers may not have been caught yet but what is more distressing is those who celebrated her death,” he had said. “We may not be able to see Gauri’s killers, but we can see those who have spewed vitriol. People our prime minister follows [on Twitter] are also among them. We have a prime minister who shuts his eyes to this.”
On Wednesday, in an interview with The Hindu, Raj said, “As a responsible citizen of this democratic country, I was disturbed by the silence of the Prime Minister. Is that a sin?”
No arrests have been made for Lankesh’s murder yet. The assailants were wearing helmets when they shot her dead outside her house in Bengaluru and fled on a motorcycle.
Lankesh, who ran the Gauri Lankesh Patrike, had been a vocal critic of right-wing groups.
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