FIR Against 50 Celebs For Writing Open Letter To PM On Mob Lynching

An FIR was lodged in Bihar's Muzzafarpur on Thursday against nearly 50 celebrities, including Ramchandra Guha, Mani Ratnam and Aparna Sen, who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising concern over the growing incidents of mob lynching, police said.

The case was lodged after an order was passed by Chief Judicial Magistrate Surya Kant Tiwari two months ago on a petition filed by local advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha.

Ojha accused the 50 signatories of the letter of “tarnishing the image of the country and undermining the impressive performance of the prime minister” besides “supporting secessionist tendencies”.

The police said the FIR was lodged under sections of the Indian Penal Code, including those relating to sedition, public nuisance, hurting religious feelings and insulting with an intent to provoke breach of peace.

The letter was written by 49 eminent personalities, including filmmakers Mani Ratnam, Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal, actor Soumitra Chatterjee as well as vocalist Shubha Mudgal in July this year.

It had said that the lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities must be stopped immediately while stressing that there was "no democracy without dissent". It also noted that Jai Shri Ram had been reduced to a "provocative war cry".