The Calcutta High Court on Monday quashed a first information report filed against actor and Bharatiya Janata Party leader Paresh Rawal for making offensive comments about the Bengali community, PTI reported.
At a poll rally in Gujarat’s Valsad city in November, Rawal had said that state residents could tolerate inflation but not Rohingya migrants living next door. He also asked whether the residents would “cook fish for the Bengalis” with their gas connections.
“If gas cylinders get expensive, they will become cheaper again,” the former BJP MP had said. “If inflation goes up, it will come down. People will get employment too. But what if Rohingya migrants and Bangladeshis start living around you, like in Delhi? What will you do with the gas cylinders? First cook fish for the Bengalis?”
The actor-politician later issued an apology saying that by referring to Bengalis, he meant “illegal Bangladeshi and Rohingya”. Communist Party of India (Marxist) leader Mohammad Salim had filed a police complaint against Rawal accusing him of promoting hatred against Bengalis.
On Monday, Justice Rajasekhar Mantha of the Calcutta High Court observed that Rawal has already apologised for his comments and that there was no need to continue proceedings on the FIR filed on the basis of Salim’s complaint, PTI reported.
The court was hearing a plea filed by Rawal seeking to quash the FIR against him. The plea contended that the speech had been made in Gujarati and some of the objections raised by it are by persons who may not necessarily understand the language.
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