Following actor Richa Chadha’s offensive tweet — in response to Northern Army Commander Lieutenant General Upendra Dwivedi’s remark about the army always being ready to reclaim territories in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) — filmmaker Ashoke Pandit filed a complaint against the actor. 

“Galwan says hi,” read Chadha’s now-deleted tweet, making a reference to the clash between Indian and Chinese forces in Galwan Valley. 

On Thursday, the filmmaker filed a complaint against the actor at Juhu Police Station in Mumbai, and urged for a First Information Report (FIR) to be registered against her.

“Just because you are a celebrity, you cannot go ahead and mock our soldiers; we are alive because of them. They protect the nation. It is an anti-national act by this lady; she is insulting the country,” Pandit shares, adding, “When I read the tweet, images of the family crying, shouting and screaming when the bodies of the soldiers came home, came to my mind. I thought instead of just tweeting or showing my anger on social media, I should stand by our soldiers.” 

On Thursday, Chadha had apologized for hurting the feelings of the “brothers in the Army”, adding that her intention was not to offend anyone. But, Pandit asserts, “She can’t say anything and later say sorry about it. I will see to it that action is taken against her. I will approach higher authorities and, if necessary, the CM, and see to it that an FIR is filed. One can’t just say anything and get away by apologizing with a note. Sorry is not an answer to it.”  

We tried reaching out to Chadha for a comment, but she was unavailable till the time we went to press. 

Several celebs, including actors Akshay Kumar and Kay Kay Menon expressed their disappointment at Chadha’s tweet. “Hurts to see this. Nothing ever should make us ungrateful towards our armed forces. Woh hain toh aaj hum hain,” tweeted Kumar.

Menon tweeted: “Our brave men and women in uniform, put their life on the line to keep every citizen of our Nation safe & secure! Least we can do is to behold love, respect & gratitude, in our hearts, towards such valour! #JaiHind! Vande Mataram. (sic).”