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Hours after Congress MP Shashi Tharoor wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi in support of the 49 celebrities who were slapped with sedition charges, South actor-turned-politician Kamal Haasan sought the Supreme Court's intervention in the matter on Tuesday, 8 October.
The Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) chief added, “I request as a citizen that out higher courts move in to uphold justice with Democracy and quash the case emanating from Bihar.”
A Muzaffarpur court ordered an FIR for sedition to be lodged against filmmakers Aparna Sen, Shyam Benegal, Adoor Gopalakrishnan, historian Ramachandra Guha and others for writing the open letter to PM Modi.
The letter had stated that the mob killing of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately, and stressed that there was "no democracy without dissent."
Earlier in the day, Tharoor posted an open letter on Twitter to PM Modi, urging him to look into the rights granted under Article 19 of the Indian Constitution.
Before Tharoor and Haasan, Congress President Rahul Gandhi, reacting to the sedition charges against the celebrities had said, “Anybody who says anything against the Prime Minister, anybody who raises anything against the government is put in jail and is attacked.”
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