Calcutta High Court quashes FIR against Mithun Chakraborty for 'cobra bite' remark

The Calcutta High Court on Thursday quashed a first information report (FIR) registered against actor and BJP member Mithun Chakraborty for his statement “Ek Choboley Chabi” (can kill people in one bite), a popular movie dialogue which he invoked during a political rally during the May 2021 Assembly elections [Mithun Chakraborty vs State of West Bengal].Single-judge Justice Kausik Chanda held that elements of hate speech cannot be found in "fundamentally funny, hilarious, and entertaining film dialogues" and films stars who enter politics often say such dialogues to attract voters."The petitioner is a popular matinee idol. The involvement of film stars in politics in the country is nothing new. It is also well known that film stars try to entertain and attract voters by saying cinematic dialogues in political rallies. The case in hand is no exception," the Court said.It also noted that the actor had not denied the fact that he had said those dialogues. "I am of the view that since the petitioner does not deny the fact that he uttered the said dialogues and the context in which the said dialogues were delivered is also not denied, any further police investigation of the present case will be an unnecessary and vexatious exercise," the Court added.The Court was hearing a criminal revision petition filed by the septuagenarian actor for quashing of a first information report against him for offences under Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups and for acts prejudicial to harmony), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief) 34 (acts done by several persons in furtherance of common intention) of the Indian Penal Code. The complainant had alleged in his FIR dated May 6, 2021, that due to the instigation of the petitioner, there was large-scale violence unleashed after the 2021 assembly elections in the State. It was alleged that two film dialogues that the actor mentioned in public meetings provoked the opposition BJP to perpetrate violence and brutality against TMC workers.The two dialogues were "Marbo Ekhane Laash Porbe Shoshaney” (will hit you here and your body will fall in the crematorium) and "Ek Choboley Chobi" (one snake bite will turn you into a photograph). A case was subsequently registered at the Maniktala Police Station. Senior Advocate Mahesh Jethmalani, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that the petitioner is a well-known actor and the dialogues he are popular in Bengal, and has often been used by the actor to entertain audiences. He contended that the present case was registered with malafide intentions since the petitioner switched from the TMC to the BJP, Jethmalani argued that the petitioner had no intention to incite anyone towards any crime and thus the ingredients of the charges accused of are not made out. Saswata Gopal Mukherjee, Public Prosecutor appearing for the State, argued that free speech and hate speech are distinct. Further, if the said movie dialogues are taken along with some of the additional words that were uttered, it would fall under the category of hate speech, it was submitted. Mukherjee also stressed on the need to examine context, harm and impact of the words and that can be done only by way of a police investigation.He also highlighted that the petitioner had offered an apology indicating his implied acceptance of committing the offence. The High Court, however, relied on the recent decision of the Supreme Court in Amish Devgan vs Union of India, to hold that for statements to amount to hate speech, there must be "a deliberate and malicious intentthat can be gathered from the words itself".While holding that in the instance case the ingredients of hate speech were not present, the High Court said: "There is, perhaps, no need to take resort to any complex theories to appreciate whether the utterance of these two dialogues would amount to hate speech."The dialogues in question are fundamentally funny, hilarious, and entertaining and cannot be viewed as an expression of hatred, the Court said."It is futile to try to find the elements of hate speech in them," it added.It also held that since there was no publication of the words or representations, Section 505 of the IPC cannot be attracted. "The petitioner did not utter those dialogues to promote the feeling of enmity, hatred, or ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic or regional groups or castes or communities, and, therefore, the ingredients of offences under Sections 153A, 504, and 505 of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 are absent in this case ... Even if the effect of such utterance is judged from the standard of weak and vacillating minds, it cannot be said that there is any proximate nexus between the dialogues uttered by the petitioner and the widespread violence that took place in the State after the Assembly Election," the judgment said.The Court, therefore, quashed the case.[Read judgment]