Bombay High Court Calls Records From Lower Court In Kangana Ranaut Sedition Case

Bombay High Court Calls Records From Lower Court In Kangana Ranaut Sedition Case

The Bombay High Court (HC) called for the record and proceedings from the Metropolitan Magistrate Court (Lower Court), Mumbai, pertaining to the complaint filed against Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel over allegedly hateful tweets.

The HC bench comprising of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale passed an order on 26 February 2021 for calling the records. The Court has directed that the papers should be sent to it by 12 March 2021.

Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee representing Ranaut claimed before the Court that compliance under Section 154(1) and 154(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was not done by the complainant Munnawarali Sayyed, and this was not considered by the Lower Court while considering the complaint before it.

According to Section 154(1) of CrPC, information regarding a cognizable offence should be given to the nearest police station. If such information is not registered by the police officer, then under Section 154 (3) of the CrPC, such a grievance can be raised with the Superintendent of Police (SP).

Advocate Rizwan Merchant representing the complainant refuted the contentions of Advocate Siddiquee and submitted that the letters were filed in compliance with Sections 154 (1) and 154 (3) of the CrPC.

Advocate Siddiquee objected to the said fact and stated that the letter submitted to the HC under Section 154 (3) of the CrPC was not the one that was filed along with the complaint before the Magistrate. The Advocate produced the record and proceedings of the Lower Court which he had got under the Right to Information Act.

Justice Pitale agreed with the contentions of Advocate Siddiquee and he asked Advocate Merchant to reply to this submissions. He added, "The Magistrate should have checked for compliance. He should have seen there is no compliance under 154(3)."

The Court passed an order calling for the records and proceedings of the complaint filed before the Lower Court.

Ranaut has sought quashing of the FIR registered by the Mumbai Police against her. She claimed in the HC that the complaint was filed with the mischievous intent of harassing her.

Previously, the bench had observed that there is a trend of adding the offence of sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code to complaints registered against those speaking against a government.

The sisters gave assurance to the Court that they will co-operate with the investigation and attend the police interrogation. Relying on them the HC recorded the State's submission and directed them not to take any coercive steps against them. The interim protection continues till 22 March 2021.

The matter is posted before the HC on 22 March 2021 for further hearing.