Karnataka district court orders filing of FIR against Kangana Ranaut for tweet comparing farmers protesting against the recent farm laws to terrorists

Published : Oct 10, 2020 10:25 IST

Kangana Ranaut.

Kangana Ranaut.

The District Court of the Principal Civil Judge and Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) of Tumakuru in Karnataka has ordered the State police to register a first information report (FIR) against Hindi film actor Kangana Ranaut for her tweet comparing farmers protesting against the recently enacted agricultural marketing laws to terrorists. Her tweet on September 21 through her official handle @KanganaTeam read: “People who spread misinformation and rumours about CAA [Citizenship Amendment Act] that caused riots are the same people who are now spreading misinformation about Farmer’s bill and causing terror in the nation, they are Terrorists. You very well know what I said but simply like to spread misinformation.”

Ramesh Naik L., the advocate who filed a private complaint report (PCR) in the Tumakuru district court, told Frontline : “As you know, there were widespread farmers’ protests against the agriculture-related Acts and it pained me to learn that the famous Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut had tweeted a derogatory statement against the farmers. Apart from being an advocate, I’m also a farmer and this hurt me deeply. I filed a complaint with the Director General of Police and Inspector-General of Police of Karnataka as well as the Superintendent of Police of Tumakuru on September 22 to lodge a criminal case [against the actor] under Sections 44, 108, 153, 153A and 504 of the Indian Penal Code; but, unfortunately, the police did not take cognisance of this. I did not have any other option but to approach the court in Tumakuru since I live here, and filed a PCR requesting the honourable court to take cognisance and direct the police to file a FIR.”

In his PCR plea, Ramesh Naik stated that Kangana Ranaut, through her statement on Twitter, “has a clear intention to injure the people who are opposing the farmers Bills passed in the Lok Sabha and thereby wantonly giving provocation with intent to cause riots and promoting the culture of violence in the young minds of society”. He went on to add: “…the government is least bothered and as usual waiting for some dangerous consequences to happen before taking some appropriate actions”. Regarding the jurisdiction of the complaint, he stated in his plea that “the objectionable contents were posted on the Twitter account of the accused which hurt the people staying across the country and the complainant is one among them and since the complainant is a permanent resident under the territorial jurisdiction of this Honourable Court, this Honourable Court is competent to entertain and try the present complaint and grant relief to the complainant.”

The District Court directed the Kyathasandra Police Station in Tumakuru to register the FIR and commence investigation.

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