Kangana Ranaut, sister Rangoli appear before Mumbai police in sedition case

Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel on Friday appeared before the police in Mumbai’s Bandra, to record their statements in connection with a sedition case. The sedition case was registered against them following a complaint by Sahil Ashrafali Sayyed, a casting director and fitness trainer in Bollywood in October, for allegedly promoting enmity between communities through their remarks. Their advocate Rizwan Siddiqui was also present along with them for the appearance, a police officer told Hindustan Times.

The Bandra police had sent three separate summons between October and November last year but the sister-duo did not appear before them. Later, the Bombay High Court directed the sisters to appear before the Bandra police on January 8 between 12 pm and 2 pm, said reports.

The sisters were booked for spreading communal hatred and propagating “very objectionable” comments which not only hurt religious sentiments but also feelings of many artists, Sayyed’s complaint read. He lodged the complaint before the court, seeking its direction for registration for an FIR under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity), 295A (malicious acts intended to outrage the religious feelings), 124A (sedition) against the actor and her sister, his lawyer Ravish Zamindar said. Following this, the actor and her sister moved the high court seeking to revoke the FIR. However, no relief was granted to them and they were booked.

According to Sayyed’s complaint, Kangana has been accused of “continuously defaming Bollywood film industry” and “portraying people working in Bollywood films as a hub of nepotism, favouritism, drug addicts, communally-biased people, murderers, etc” through her tweets and television interviews. “…(this) is creating a very bad image of Bollywood in the minds of people and even creating a communal divide and rift between people of two communities and in the mind of common man,” the complaint adds.

“Her sister, too, has made objectionable comments on social media to spread communal tension between two religious groups,” he added.

Her sister, Rangoli Chandel had come under huge criticism for her tweet in April where she had said, “A Jamaati died of Corona when police and doctor went to check their families, they were attacked and killed, secular media, make this mullas + secular media stand in line and shoot them dead [sic],”. She was referring to an event in Uttar Pradesh’s Moradabad and no death was reported in the said event. Subsequently, her Twitter handle was suspended over the controversial tweet.