The Mumbai Police have issued a second notice to actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel, summoning them on November 10 in connection with a case of allegedly trying to create communal tension through their tweets and interviews, PTI reported on Tuesday.
The police had first asked the sisters to appear before the investigating officer in the case on October 26 and 27. But Ranaut’s lawyer told the police that the actor was in Himachal Pradesh and busy with the wedding preparations of her cousin.
The case was lodged against the sisters after a Bandra court directed the police to file a first information report against Ranaut and Chandel for allegedly trying to create communal tension. The order was passed by Magistrate Jaydeo Ghule based on a complaint filed by fitness instructor and casting director Munnawarali Sayyed.
The complainant said the sisters should be charged under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion), 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class) and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.
The complainant also accused Ranaut of portraying the film industry as a hub of nepotism, communal bias and drugs. He said that a divide was being created by artists belonging to different religions.
On October 29, a Mumbai court, in another case, ordered an inquiry against the sisters for allegedly posting derogatory tweets against Muslims. The order came after advocate Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh approached the court, saying that the Amboli police station had not taken any action on a complaint filed by him against the sisters.
The complainant said that Chandel posted objectionable comments against members of the Tablighi Jamaat on her social media account on April 15. Following this, her account was suspended by Twitter. Deshmukh said that Ranaut supported Chandel’s comments. He said the actor also posted a short video on April 18 on various social media accounts, calling Jamaatis terrorists.
Ranaut has made several controversial statements recently. On October 14, the Karnataka Police had filed an FIR against the actor for her tweet against farmers protesting the Centre’s new agriculture laws. She had referred to the protestors as “terrorists”.
The actor had become entangled in a row with the Maharashtra government after she said that Mumbai felt like Pakistan-occupied Kashmir to her and that she feared living in the city. She had also criticised the Mumbai Police for its handling of actor Sushant Singh Rajput’s death. The Centre gave Ranaut Y-plus security in September.
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