The Maharashtra Cyber Police has lodged an FIR against actor Payal Rohatgi for an alleged defamatory video on social media about the Nehru-Gandhi family.
The FIR was lodged based on a complaint by a local Congress leader, and the case has been registered under the IPC sections about promoting enmity between groups (153A pertaining to communal disharmony), regarding defamation, and conduction public mischief, an official told PTI.
Pune city Congress spokesperson Ramesh Iyer said, “Payal Rohatgi has repeatedly made derogatory comments about the Nehru-Gandhi family. We came across one such post, which we believe has been made recently, as quoted by Indian Express.
“Subsequently, the office-bearers of Pune city Congress committee, including Ramesh Bagwe, Mohan Joshi, Datta Bahirat, Sangeeta Tiwari and I, met senior police officials from the Cyber Crime Cell. A formal complaint in the case was filed by Sangeet Tiwari. The police have acted on it and a case has been registered at Shivaji Nagar police station,” the spokesperson added.
Pune City Police Commissioner Amitabh Gupta also reportedly confirmed that a probe has been launched about the matter. The complaint also involves another unidentified person along with the actor. The video in question allegedly contains defamatory matter about Mahatma Gandhi, former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru, Rajiv Gandhi, and other members of the family.
Earlier in June, Rohatgi was booked under IPC sections including 504 for intentional insult after she was arrested for allegedly using defamatory language against the society’s residents and the chairman. The actor was also detained earlier in 2019 for alleged use of defamatory language against the Nehru-Gandhi family in a video. She had claimed that the arrest was “politically motivated”.
Payal Rohatgi’s lawyer said, in a video statement, "Since the morning there is news in the media about my client Payal Rohatgi. We have not got any information or notice related to the FIR." He added that the video involved could be the one related to a 2019 case involving the same is already under trial in a Rajasthan court.
The lawyer added, “No video about this subject has been uploaded by my client in the past two years. Her Twitter and Facebook accounts have also been inactive for the past year.” The statement was posted by an account named 'Team Payal Rohatgi'.
(With inputs from PTI)
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