The Indian police presented a first informative report (FIR) against 49 celebrities who had written an open letter to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi against the growing cases of mafia lynching in the country, Hindustan Times reported Friday.
According to the news report, the FIR was lodged on Thursday in Muzaffarpur against 49 signatories of an open letter, including Ramchandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who had expressed concern over the increasing incidents of mafia lynching.
A local lawyer, Sudhir Kumar Ojha, had approached the chief judicial magistrate Surya Kant Tiwari, seeking to register a case against the signatories of the open letter.
"The CJM had approved the order on August 20, accepting my request, by receiving a FIR today at the Sadar police station here," Ojha said, according to the Indian publication.
The petitioner was quoted as saying that about 50 signatories of the letter were named as defendants in their petition in which they allegedly "tarnished the image of the country and undermined the impressive performance of the prime minister" in addition to "supporting secessionist tendencies."
According to the police, the FIR was presented under several sections of the Criminal Code of India, including those related to sedition, public nuisance, religious feelings and insults with the intention of causing the violation of peace.
The news report says the letter was written by 49 eminent personalities, including filmmakers Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, actor Soumitra Chatterjee and vocalist Shubha Mudgal in July this year.
The open letter demanded that the lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities be stopped immediately, while stressing that "there was no democracy without dissent." The open letter, addressed to Modi, also noted that Jai Shri Ram had been reduced to a "provocative war cry."
Source: https://www.dawn.com/news/1508967/49-indian-celebrities-booked-for-writing-open-letter-to-modi-on-mob-lynching