Karnataka High Court on Thursday quashed an FIR registered against actor Kangana Ranaut for her Tweets on the farmer protests. A single bench of Justice HP Sandesh was hearing the petition against the order passed by Judicial Magistrate First Class, Tumkur Vinod Balnaik on the complaint of Advocate Ramesh Naik. Naik had sought FIR against the actor for the offences under Sections 153A, 504, 108 of the Indian Penal Code for her tweets posted on September 20th, 2020, regarding the farmer protests.
While setting aside the order, Justice HP Sandesh observed that Magistrate Tumkur Vinod Balnaik acted mechanically, without examining if the offences are cognizable in nature. Saying so, Justice HP Sandesh remitted back the matter to the Magistrate for fresh consideration.
#Breaking Karnataka HC sets aside a First Information report registered against Kangana Ranaut over her tweets comparing farmers protesting against the farm laws to terrorists.@KanganaTeam #KanganaRanaut pic.twitter.com/0JhbCjZCjX
— Bar & Bench (@barandbench) March 25, 2021
On October 9, 2020, the Judicial Magistrate First Class, had directed the jurisdictional Police Station (Kyathasandra) to lodge an FIR against actress Kangana Ranaut for her tweet on the recent farmer protests.
The complainant had alleged that the Tweet posted by Ranaut has a clear intention to injure the people who are opposing the Farm Bills. It was further alleged by the complainant that the Tweet gives provocation with the intention to cause riots and promote the culture of non-violence in the young minds of society. The complainant had also questioned the government for not taking action on it and said that the government was waiting for some dangerous consequences before taking appropriate action. It was argued by the complainant that if such content was allowed, incalculable and irreparable damage will be caused to the farmers of the country.
Earlier this month, the Queen actor had moved the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash the FIR registered against her for her tweet on farmers opposing the farm laws.
Tweet by Kangana Ranaut
Calling out the people spreading misinformation about the Farm laws, Kangana Ranaut had posted a tweet on September 20. Comparing the farmer protests with the anti-CAA protests, the actress had called the people misleading the farmers as “terrorists”.
