Submit report on videos posted by Kangana Ranaut, her sister: Court to Mumbai Police

The metropolitan magistrate’s court, Andheri on Thursday asked the Mumbai Police to submit a report on the allegations of defamation made by a city-based lawyer

The metropolitan magistrate’s court, Andheri on Thursday asked the Mumbai Police to submit a report on the allegations of defamation made by a city-based lawyer against actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel over a video posted on social media allegedly calling members of the minority community ‘terrorists’.

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Advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh had filed a private complaint in July with the metropolitan magistrate’s court against the two sisters. The court, in its order, noted that, “On April 15 around 4.37pm, accused no. 1 Rangoli Chandel posted a defamatory and objectionable statement against Jamati on her Twitter account. Thereafter her Twitter account is suspended by Twitter. Accused Kangana Ranaut has supported the statement. On April 18, accused no. 2 Ranaut posted a short video on various social media platforms and called the sect of Muslims (Jamati) terrorists.”

“The allegations are based on the comments of the accused on social media platforms. Evidence against the accused appears to be of electronic in nature. Therefore, inquiry at the hands of police is necessary for proceeding against proposed accused,” reads the order, directing the police to inquire and submit a report by November 5.

The lawyer said that Ranaut’s recent tweet referred to Mumbai as “Pakistan occupied Kashmir” and described the state home minister as a member of the “Taliban”, which, Deshmukh claimed, defamed the country. “The actor has no respect for varied communities of India, law of the land, authorised government bodies,” read the recent complaint filed by Deshmukh.

Earlier, acting on the complaint of casting director Munawarali aka Sahil Sayyed, the Bandra metropolitan magistrate had on October 16 directed Bandra police to initiate criminal action against Ranaut and Chandel.

Sayyed had, in his complaint, alleged that Ranaut’s actions “created a bad image of Bollywood in the minds of people and even created a communal divide and rift between people of two communities”. He added that Ranaut has been “maliciously bringing religion in all her tweets”. The casting director further alleged that Chandel, who also works as manager of the actor, has tweeted highly objectionable messages, intended to create a communal rift.

The case against the two sisters has already been registered with Bandra police on the basis of the order of the magistrate’s court.