A case has been registered against actress Payal Rohatgi under sections 66 and 67 of the Information Technology Act for allegedly insulting the family of Motilal Nehru. The case was registered by Rajasthan police on a complaint filed by Rajasthan Youth Congress leader Charmesh Sharma.
Case registered against actress Payal Rohatgi u/s 66 & 67 of IT Act, by Rajasthan Police for allegedly making objectionable comments against the family of freedom fighter Motilal Nehru. Youth Congress leader Charmesh Sharma had registered the complaint against the actress.
— ANI (@ANI) October 11, 2019
The actress and reality TV performer is very active on social media, and she regularly posts comments and videos on various matters of politics and current affairs. Her Twitter handle is named as Payal Rohatgi & Team- Bhagwan Ram Bhakts. A few weeks ago, she had posted several tweets and a video on the personal life of freedom fighter Motilal Nehru, the father of first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru.
Ram Ram ji ? Motilal Nehru and his 5 wives ?? Part -1 ? #PayalRohatgi pic.twitter.com/p7W9EfvQhu
— PAYAL ROHATGI & Team- Bhagwan Ram Bhakts (@Payal_Rohatgi) September 6, 2019
In the video along with the tweets, Payal had alleged that Motilal Nehru had 5 wives. She had made this claim quoting a biography of M.O. Mathai written by Edina Ramakrishna. Mathai was an Indian Civil Service officer and had served as the Private Secretary of Jawaharlal Nehru.
[youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pggWxSAWyzs]
In the video, Payal had quoted the book saying that although Swaroop Rani was the legal wife of Motilal Nehru, he had four other wives. The others were Thussu Rahman Bai, Mrs. Manjari, one Iranian woman, and a Housemaid, she had claimed. She also said that Motilal had a son named Muhammad Ali Jinnah from the Iranian woman, while also claiming that Jawaharlal Nehru was actually the son of Thussu Rahman Bai from her former husband.
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It may be noted that M.O. Mathai had written two memoirs narrating his time with Jawaharlal Nehru, titled Reminiscences of The Nehru Age and My Days with Nehru. But there is no record of any biography of Mathai written by someone named Edina Ramkrishna. In his books, Mathai has not mentioned the alleged facts about Motilal Nehru as quoted by Payal, although the books do contain several other controversial claims about the Nehru family.
Moreover, the claims made by Payal Rohatgi about the Nehru family keep appearing on Social Media, and they have no basis as they are fake claims. Other than various social media platforms, some websites are also spreading this fake news. But actually there is no book making these claims.