Order Directing Fir Against Kangana Ranaut Quashed By Karnataka High Court

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• A JMFC in Karnataka ordered an FIR to be registered against actor Kangana Ranaut on a petition filed by an advocate.
• The magistrate directed the police to file an FIR against the actor due to her tweet made against the farmer protest on Twitter.
• However, the Karnataka High Court quashed the order given by the Magistrate and sent the matter back to the magistrate court for fresh consideration.

BACKGROUND DETAILS

• Advocate Ramesh Naik, the complainant filed a complaint alleging that actor Kangana Ranaut by comparing farmer protests to terrorists has promoted hatred and enmity between groups.
• The complainant had sought an FIR against the actor for offences under Sections 153A (Doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 108 (Abettor), 504 ( Intentional insult thereby provoking persons which cause public peace to break)
• Looking into the complaint the JMFC (I.e. judicial magistrate first class) at Tumkur, Karnataka took cognizance of the complaint and thereby directed the police to file an FIR against actor Kangana Ranaut under Section 153(6) of Cr.P.C.

FURTHER DETAILS

• The tweet which landed actor Kangana Ranaut in trouble is a tweet on farmer protest – ‘The people who spread rumours and misinformation about CAA that caused riots are the same people who are spreading misinformation about farmer bill are causing terror in the nation, they are Terrorists.’
• A petition was filed by Kangana Ranaut before the Karnataka High Court requesting the court to quash the FIR filed against her.
• Advocate Rizwan Siddiqui representing the actor submitted to the court that the actor’s tweet on farmer protest was not tweeted to incite enmity between any group and was done solely to caution her followers.

COURT VERDICT

• The single-judge bench of Karnataka High Court Justice H.P Sandesh said that there was no application of mind by the magistrate before passing such an order.
• The bench noted that the tweet does not satisfy the ingredients mentioned in section 153A of the Indian Penal Code.
• It clarified that the main object of Section 153A is to promote enmity between 2 groups on the grounds of religion, race, caste, place of birth, etc. But merely inciting feelings of 1 group without reference to any other group cannot suffice the primary object of section 153A.
• As the order was passed mechanically without application of mind. Therefore the court found the order to be inaccurate and against principles of law thus the order was quashed and sent for fresh consideration to magistrate court by the Karnataka High Court.

Do you think an FIR should have been registered against Kangana Ranaut? Yes or No. Let us know in the comments section below!