Mumbai: An FIR was registered against actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel on Saturday, a day after the Bandra magistrate court directed police to conduct investigations against the two for allegedly creating communal tension through tweets and interviews.

The Bandra police registered the FIR under Indian Penal Code Sections 124A (sedition), 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting their religion or religious beliefs). After the probe is completed, the police will have to submit a report before the court.

Munnawarali aka Sahil Ashrafali Sayyed, a feature film casting director, had through advocates Ravish Zamindar and Mohsin Shaikh submitted a private complaint before the Bandra magistrate court. The plea alleged that through her tweets, Ranaut was creating divisions between Hindu and Muslim artistes.

In an order pronounced on Friday, metropolitan magistrate Jaydeo Y Ghule said, “On prima facie perusal of the complaint and submissions, I found the cognizable offence has been committed by the accused. Total allegations are based upon comment on electronic media ie tweets and interviews. The accused used social media like Twitter. Thorough investigations is necessary by the expert.” Sayyed’s plea said over the last couple of months, Kangana had been defaming Bollywood by calling it a hub of nepotism, favouritism, drug addicts, communally biased people, murderers etc. “This is creating a very bad image of Bollywood in the minds of people and even creating a communal divide and rift between people of two communities and in the minds of the common man,” the plea said. He further said Ranaut had been “maliciously bringing religion in almost all her tweets” and cited several examples.

Referring to Chandel, the plea said she too had made an objectionable tweet to spread communal hatred and animosity among the two religious communities. “I say that the said tweet was so objectionable from a communal point of view that her Twitter account was instantly deleted. I say that the tweet not only hurt my religious sentiments but also the religious sentiments of Muslim community,” the plea said. The plea also cited Ranaut’s tweet against chief minister Uddhav Thackeray and a tweet calling Mumbai “POK (Pakistan Occupied Kashmir).”

Sayyed said he had written to the police last month, but no action was taken. “Police investigation is necessary to ascertain the real motive behind such hate tweets and who are the people backing such hatred to create communal tensions and sentiments against the government,” the plea said.

The court said all the alleged offences against the accused are cognizable.

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The Bandra police registered an FIR against actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel for sedition and promoting enmity between different groups. The police acted on an order from the Magistrate Court in Bandra, which took cognisance of a complaint lodged by casting director and fitness trainer Munnawar Ali Sayyed.

In his complaint, Sayyed said the sisters were “trying to create hatred and communal tension between Hindus and Muslims" through their tweets.

Magistrate Jaydeo Ghule directed the police to book the Ranauts under sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295A (deliberate and malicious act to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting their religion) and 124A (sedition) of the Indian Penal Code.

In the private complaint filed through advocate Ravish Zamindar, Gule has pointed out several tweets by Ranaut on the Sushant Singh Rajput death case, the lynching in Palghar and her tweets calling Mumbai Pakistan occupied Kashmir.

Sayyed has alleged that she has continuously been defaming the Bollywood film industry as a hub of nepotism, favouritism and is portraying its members as “drug addicts, communally biased people, murderers, etc” through her tweets and TV interviews.

He said that an investigation is required to ascertain “the real motive behind such hate tweets and to find out who is backing such hatred to create communal tensions and sentiments against the government.”

Agreeing with the complainant, the court says “Prima facie on perusal of the complaint and submissions I found a cognisable offence has been committed by the accused….A thorough investigation is necessary by an expert.”

This is the second FIR against Ranaut for her tweets.

Citing her tweets about the Palghar lynching where she referred to the BMC as “Babur Sena”, Sayyed said "Kangana is creating divisions between Hindu artistes and Muslim artistes....is maliciously bringing religion in almost all her tweets."

The complaint also mentioned how Chandel's hate-filled tweet automatically got her account suspended.

Ranaut’s lawyer Rizwan Siddiquee said, “Order passed by the learned magistrate shall be legally dealt with on "merits" as per the procedure of law. Right of speech and expression should not be construed as promoting communal disharmony. Having personally known Kangana, I can firmly say that she is not against any religion."

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The Bandra Magistrate Court has given orders to register an FIR against actress Kangana Ranaut. Ranaut has been accused of inciting religious sentiments, dividing artistes on religious grounds, and promoting social malice. Petitioner Munnawarali Sayyed has demanded a probe against the actor, citing a tweet in the past.

Ranaut's sister Rangoli has also been named in the case. The complainant has also mentioned Ranaut's remarks comparing the situation in Mumbai to Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. The petitioner said Ranaut was constantly trying to divide Bollywood. According to him, these tweets are creating disharmony within Bollywood and in the general public.

According to the complainant, the actor allegedly also instigated the killing of Hindu sadhus in Palghar, and referred to the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) as Babar Sena. As per the orders, the Bandra police has registered a case against the actor and her sister, Rangoli. Following the Bandra court's order, they registered a case under sections 153(A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 295 (A) (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) 124 (A) and 34 of the IPC, and IPC 124A (sedition).

DCP Abhishek Trimukhe confirmed that the Bandra police registered a case against Ranaut and her sister Rangoli. Ranaut's lawyer Rizwan Siddiqui tweeted, "Order passed by the Learned Magistrate shall be legally dealt with on 'merits' as per procedure of law. Right of speech & expression should not be construed as promoting communal disharmony. Having personally known Kangana, I can firmly say that she is not against any religion."

Ranaut posted on her social media account: "Meanwhile another FIR filed against me. The Pappu Sena in Maharashtra seems to be obsessing about me. Don't miss me so much, I will be back soon."