Chandigarh: A Chandigarh court has issued a notice to actress and Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) MP Kangana Ranaut and others on a complaint alleging that the film ‘Emergency’ tarnishes the image of Sikhs.
The Chandigarh District Court issued this notice while hearing the petition of advocate Ravinder Singh Bassi on Tuesday. He is also the president of the NGO ‘Lawyers for Humanity’. The respondents have been asked to file their reply by December 5.
Bassi alleged in the petition that Ranaut and other respondents have tried to “defame the Sikhs” in the film ‘Emergency’. In particular, the former Jathedar of Akal Takht has been “targeted” by portraying him as a “terrorist”.
“The accused have painted a bad picture about the Sikhs without studying the proper facts and figures of history and have also made false and baseless allegations against the Jathedar of the Sikh community,” Bassi alleged in the petition.
He said, “It has been shown in the trailer of the movie that the Jathedar of Sri Akal Takht Sahib was demanding a separate state which is completely false and it was shown only to spoil the image of the Sikhs and Akal Takht Jathedars.”
“The accused by their acts and conduct have hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community in general and the deponent,” the petition filed by Bassi, a former president of the Chandigarh District Bar Association, said. He alleged that the actress, producer and director of the film “Emergency” created differences between communities by making provocative statements and speeches against minorities.
The petitioner has sought registration of an FIR against Ranaut and two other respondents under sections 196(1) (promoting enmity between different communities on grounds of religion, caste, place of birth, residence, language, and spoiling harmony), 197(1) (forging or publishing false or misleading information which threatens the sovereignty, unity, integrity or security of India), 302 (uttering words, etc., with intent to outrage religious feelings of any person) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, with intent to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the Indian Civil Services Code.