Govt has not lodged any case: Javadekar

Sedition charges against 49 celebrities

NEW DELHI: Clearing the confusion over legal action against the 49 celebrities, who had written an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Union Minister Prakash Javadekar on Saturday said that the Centre did not get any case registered against the 49 celebrities for writing a letter to the PM over the growing incidents of mob lynching.

The Union Minister also made it clear that the case was registered on the directions of the court. “The government has not registered any case. One person approached the court and the court has directed its orders. We haven’t done anything in this regard,” the Union Minister was quoted as saying by a news agency.

In a letter dated July 23, about 49 celebrities from different fields including singer Shubha Mudgal, actor Konkona Sen Sharma and filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, and Mani Ratnam, wrote an open letter to PM Modi.

The letter stated that “lynching of Muslims, Dalits, and other minorities must be stopped immediately”, and that the slogan “Jai Shri Ram” has become a “provocative war cry”.

The letter maintained that there is “no democracy without dissent”, and that people should not be branded as “anti-nationals” or “urban Naxals” for voicing dissent.

In response to the letter, the government had said that Dalits and minorities are safe in the country and that those who are “yet to recover” from the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls are trying to communalise “criminal incidents”.

Notably, on July 27, advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha had filed a complaint before the Muzaffarpur chief judicial magistrate alleging that these famous personalities had tried to “tarnish the image of the country and undermine the impressive performance of the prime minister” besides “supporting secessionist tendencies”.

The FIR was filed on October 2 under IPC sections 124A (sedition), 153B (assertions or assumptions prejudicial to national integration), 160 (committing affray), 290 (committing public nuisance), and 504 (breach of peace).

Meanwhile, award-winning filmmaker Adoor Gopalakrishnan on Friday had urged the Centre to enact a new law to stop incidents of mob killings stating that any “responsible government” would have taken action on the issue.