A complaint has been filed against actor Kangana Ranaut in Karnataka, accusing her of ‘insulting’ farmers and calling them ‘terrorists’. The complainant is an advocate, Harshvardhan Patil, who has filed the complaint in Belagavi district in the state.
He has also accused the actor of criminal intimidation and “intentionally insulting” farming communities “with an intent to provoke breach of peace” and making statements conducive to public mischief.
The complaint filed on 6 February, is in reference to a tweet posted by Kangana after she reacted to singer Rihanna sharing an article on the farmers’ protest. Rihanna had shared she questioned why we weren’t talking about the internet shutdown in Delhi’s border areas where farmers have been protesting against the contentious three farm laws. Kangana responded to Rihanna in a bizarre tweet, saying “no one is talking about it because they are not farmers they are terrorists who are trying to divide India, so that China can take over our vulnerable broken nation and make it a Chinese colony much like USA…”
In his complaint, Patil has said that he hails from a reputed farming family in Belagavi, and several of his previous generations have been engaged in agriculture.
Referring to Kanagana’s tweet, he has said, “People like Kangana Ranaut who do not possess any knowledge about farming activities and the problems faced by our farming families are involved in making unwanted and unwarranted comments on the entire farming community of India time and again. Sir, the said Kangana Ranaut who is heard to be an actress instead of sharing compassion towards the farming community is addressing them as “terrorists" etc.”
“By making such statements Kangana Ranaut is trying to provoke and incite the other citizens of India to attack and assault the farming community and their families posing them to be traitors,” he added in his complaint.
Patil has argued that the Panga actor has also insulted the Indian armed forces and their families by referring to the nation as “vulnerable” and “broken”.
Patil has asked for Kangana to be booked under sections sections 153 (wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause a riot), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth etc), 503 (whoever threatens another with any injury to his person), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505(1) (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, any officer, soldier, sailor or airman in the Army, Navy or Air Force of India to mutiny), 505 (b) (intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public), 505(c) (intent to incite, or which is likely to incite, any class or community of persons to commit any offence against any other class or community), 505(2) (commiting an offence specified in any place of worship or in an assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies), and 506 (punishment for criminal intimidation) of the Indian Penal Code. He has also asked for the police to take action to suspend Kangana’s Twitter account.
Earlier, in October 2020, an FIR had been registered against Kangana for tweets against farmers in Karnataka’s Tumakuru district. The FIR was registered under Sections 44 (injury), 108 (abettor), 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riots), 153(A) (vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc of any particular group), and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC), and was based on a complaint by advocate Ramesh L Naik.
The lawyer had taken objection to a tweet by the actor in September 2020 where she said, “People who spread misinformation and rumours about CAA that caused riots are the same people who are now spreading misinformation about Farmers bill and causing terror in the nation, they are terrorists. You very well know what I said but simply like to spread misinformation (sic)."
Last year, Bollywood casting director and fitness trainer Munawwar Ali Sayyed had also filed a complaint against Kangana and her sister Rangoli in October 2020.He had alleged that both the sisters were trying to create hatred and communal tension through their social media posts. The sisters were booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code pertaining to Section 295A (committing malicious or deliberate acts with the intention of outraging religious feelings of citizens), Section 124A (sedition), Section 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence or language and common intention).
(This article has been published in an arrangement with The News Minute.)
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