Sedition case: None of my tweets incited violence, Kangana Ranaut to Bombay HC

Actor Kangana Ranaut on Monday told the Bombay High Court through her lawyer that none of her tweets had ever incited violence or caused any criminal acts and sought quashing of the FIR registered against her for sedition by Mumbai PoliceThe HC will continue hearing the arguments on February 26 and the interim protection from arrest granted to Ranaut and her sister Rangoli will continue till thenRanauts counsel Rizwan Siddique told a bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale that the actor had not committed any wrong through her tweetsHe said the magistrates court in suburban Bandra had erred in allowing registration of a First Information Report FIR against Ranaut on charges including sedition Siddique urged the High Court to quash the lower courts order as well as the FIRThere is absolute nonapplication of mind in the Bandra courts order Even the sections invoked against me do not constitute any offence None of my tweets have invoked any reactions from the public They will not attract a punishment as they were not followed by violence What happened after the tweet Was there any criminal act after my tweets Siddique told the HC on the behalf of RanautThe actor and her sister Rangoli had challenged the order of the magistrates court to initiate criminal proceedings against them and the subsequent summons issued by the Mumbai PoliceThe FIR was registered against Ranaut and Rangoli in October last year on the directions of the magistrates court after Munawwar Ali Sayyad a casting director and fitness trainer filed a complaint citing some tweets and statements made allegedly by Ranaut and her sisterIn an affidavit filed in the HC earlier this month Sayyad had said that among other things Ranaut and Rangoli promoted hatred and contempt and incited disaffection towards the Maharashtra government through their tweetsHe said in the affidavit that the magistrates court was therefore justified in directing the police to initiate proceedings and invoke the offence of sedition under Section 124A of the Indian Penal Code against themIn his complaint to the magistrate court Sayyed had alleged that Ranaut through her tweets and television interviews had continuously defamed Hindi film industry by portraying Bollywood as a hub of nepotism favouritism drug addicts communallybiased people and murderers etcHe said Ranaut and Rangoli had also repeatedly promoted enmity between communities through their remarks However Ranauts counsel Siddique on Monday denied these allegations He told the HC that the Bandra court had failed to follow due procedure and didnt apply its mind in permitting the police to initiate action against Ranaut and her sisterEarlier last month Sayyad had also filed an application seeking initiation of contempt proceedings against Ranaut for allegedly breaching a previous undertaking she had given to the HCHe said in his plea that on November 24 Ranaut had given an undertaking that she will not make statements pertaining to the Mumbai Polices investigation into the sedition case filed against her However on January 8 just before she went to the police station Ranaut tweeted a video in which she spoke to her fans about the investigation Sayyad had saidThe HC is hearing Ranauts plea against the Bandra court and Sayyads contempt application togetherThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever