HC extends protection from arrest granted to Kangana, sister

The Bombay High Court on Mondayextended till February 15 the interim protection from arrestgranted to actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandelin connection with an FIR registered against them by Mumbaipolice on sedition and other charges following their tweets.

A bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitaleadjourned further hearing on the plea filed by Ranaut and hersister, challenging the order of the Bandra magistrate toinitiate criminal proceedings against them based on the aboveFIR, and subsequent summons of the Mumbai Police over thesame.

The bench said, since the hearing had been adjourned,the interim protection granted to the duo would automaticallybe extended till the next date.

The FIR was registered in October last year followingorders from the magistrate court in Bandra after Munawwar AliSayyad, a casting director and fitness trainer, filed acomplaint citing some tweets and statements made allegedly byRanaut and her sister.

He sought that the court direct the police to registeran FIR against the sisters under various charges, includingsedition.

In an affidavit filed in HC on Monday through hiscounsel Rizwan Merchant, Sayyad said Ranaut and her sisterRangoli promoted ''hatred and contempt, and exciteddisaffection towards the Maharashtra government,'' throughtheir tweets.

Sayyad said the sisters had also repeatedly promotedenmity between communities through their remarks.

He said in the affidavit that the magistrate's courtwas, therefore, justified in directing the police to initiateproceedings and invoke the offence of sedition under section124A of the IPC against them.

In his complaint in the Bandra court, Sayyad had alsosaid Ranaut, through her tweets and television interviews, hadcontinuously defamed the Hindi film industry by portrayingBollywood as a hub of nepotism, favouritism, drug addicts,communally biased and murderers, etc.

Earlier this month, Sayyad had filed an applicationseeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Ranaut forallegedly breaching a previous statement made in the HighCourt.

He had said in the plea that on November 24, Ranauthad given an undertaking in HC that she will not makestatements pertaining to the Mumbai police's investigationinto the sedition case filed against her.

However, on January 8, just before she went to thepolice station, she tweeted a video in which she is speakingto her fans about the investigation.

HC is now hearing Ranaut's plea against the Bandracourt, and Sayyad's contempt application together.

(This story has not been edited by Devdiscourse staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)