Mumbai: Court orders police probe in complaint against actor Payal Rohatgi for tweets

This picture has been used for representational purpose

A magistrate court here has ordered the police to probe a complaint against actor Payal Rohatgi for allegedly spreading hatred towards a particular community through her tweets.

Metropolitan magistrate, Andheri, Bhagwat Zirape on March 30 ordered an enquiry against the actor under section 202 of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) and a copy of the same was made available on Monday.

A probe under section 202 of the CrPC is ordered to determine whether a prima facie case is made out and whether there is sufficient ground for proceeding against the accused.

"Every community has the right to profess its religion. No individual has the right to make a fun of any custom or rites of other communities," the magistrate noted in his order.

The complainant, advocate Ali Kaashif Khan Deshmukh, had approached the magistrate in December last year after the Amboli police station had failed to take action against Rohatgi for her alleged communal tweet in June, 2020.

In his complaint, the lawyer had stated that the actor's tweets were "exceedingly derogatory" to the people of a particular community and her post defamed its women.

The court had found that prima facie, the tweets show disregard against the community and its women, and a technical investigation about tweets is necessary to proceed against accused.

The court has asked the police to submit its enquiry report on April 30.

This story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed, agencies. Mid-day accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability, trustworthiness, reliability and data of the text. Mid-day management/mid-day.com reserves the sole right to alter, delete or remove (without notice) the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever