Kangana Ranaut sedition case: Bombay High Court calls for records from lower court

The Bombay High Court on Friday called for the record and proceedings from the Metropolitan Magistrate Court at Bandra pertaining to the complaint filed against Bollywood actress Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel over allegedly hateful tweets.

The Bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale passed the order today. Advocate Rizwan Siddiquee, appearing for Ranaut, claimed that compliance under Section 154(1) and 154(3) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was not done by the complainant Munnawarali Sayyed, and this was not considered by the lower court while considering the complaint before it.

Section 154(1) states that information regarding a cognizable offence has to be informed to the nearest police station. If such information is not registered by the police officer, then under Section 154 (3), such grievance can be raised with the Superintendent of the Police.

Refuting the submissions made by Siddiquee, advocate Rizwan Merchant, appearing for Sayyed, submitted the letters filed in compliance with Sections 154 (1) and 154 (3).

Siddiquee disputed this fact by stating that the letter submitted to the High Court under Section 154 (3) was not the one which was filed along with the complaint before the Magistrate.

He even produced the record and proceedings of the lower court which he had got under the Right to Information Act.

Agreeing with Siddiquee's submission, Justice Pitale asked Merchant to reply to this submissions.

"The Magistrate should have checked for compliance. He should have seen there is no compliance under 154(3)," he said.

After Merchant requested the Court to call for the record and proceedings of the lower court, Justice Pitale asked whether or not the record that comes from the Court would be any different from what is submitted to them.

The Court eventually passed an order calling for the records and proceedings of the complaint filed before the lower court.

It has directed for the papers to be sent by March 12. The matter will be heard next on March 22.

Ranaut has sought to quash the FIR registered by the Mumbai Police based on the complaint of Sayyed, claiming that the complaint was filed with the mischievous intent of harassing her.

During the course of previous hearings, the Bench had orally observed that there is a trend of adding the offence of sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code to complaints registered against those speaking against a government.

Based on the assurance of the sisters that they will co-operate with the investigation and attend the police station interrogation as and when summoned, the Court recorded the State's submission that it would not take any coercive steps against her. The interim protection continues till March 22.