An FIR has been registered against actor Kangana Ranaut over her tweets against farmers following the orders of a court in Tumakuru district of Karnataka directing the same. The FIR was registered under Sections 44 (injury), 108 (abettor), 153 (giving provocation with intent to cause riots), 153(A) (vilification or attacks upon the religion, race, place of birth, residence, language etc of any particular group), and 504 (Intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace) of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 (IPC).
The FIR was registered based on a complaint by a lawyer L Ramesh Naik by the Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court in Tumakuru. It was registered at the Kyathasandra police station in Tumakuru. Ramesh had taken objection to the tweet posted on September 21 against farmers opposing the Farmers Bills (now Acts) from Kangana’s official Twitter account '@KanganaTeam'. Kangana had tweeted: "People who spread misinformation and rumours about CAA that caused riots are the same people who are now spreading misinformation about Farmers bill and causing terror in the nation, they are terrorists.You very well know what I said but simply like to spread misinformation (sic)."
People who spread misinformation and rumours about CAA that caused riots are the same people who are now spreading misinformations about Farmers bill and causing terror in the nation, they are terrorists. You very well know what I said but simply like to spread misinformation https://t.co/oAnBTX0Drb
— Kangana Ranaut (@KanganaTeam) September 21, 2020
The court said the complainant had filed an application under section 156(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) for investigation. "The office is hereby directed to issue intimation to the circle police inspector of Kyathasandra police station along with (a) photostat copy of the complaint of the report," the court had said.
Speaking to TNM, Ramesh Naik, who hails from Kyathasandra, said this tweet had hurt him and said that the tweet was provoking in nature with the intention of causing riots. He said that it prompted him to file a case against Ranaut.
Farmers and farmer groups across India including in Karnataka had held protests in September opposing three farm laws — Farmer’s Produce Trade and Commerce (Promotion and Facilitation) Bill, 2020; the Farmers (Empowerment and Protection) Agreement of Price Assurance and Farm Services Bill, 2020l and the Essential Commodities (Amendment) Bill 2020.
Watch TNM’s explainer on the farm laws and why they are being opposed: