Advocate Karuna Sagar Kashimshetty filed a complaint against actor Farhan Akhtar for tweeting out a call to the Mumbai protests against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA). Filed with the Saidabad police station in Hyderabad, the complaint alleged that Akhtar had 'posted a seditious tweet' by calling out people to protest.
ANI quoted Srinivas, circle inspector of Saidabad police station as saying, "Today we had received a complaint from an Advocate, Karuna Sagar stating that while he was browsing the net he noticed Bollywood Actor Farhan Akhtar has posted alleged seditious tweet on his official twitter handle, creating fear, chaos and thereby instigating Muslims, transgender, atheists, and Dalits to wage war against the nation."
Kashimshetty is president of the Hindu Sanghatan in Hyderabad. The complaint has been filed under section 121, 121 (A), 120 (B) 505 of the Indian Penal Code. The complaint filed seem to point to Akhtar's tweet on 18 December, a day before the protest march in Mumbai.
Here’s what you need to know about why these protests are important. See you on the 19th at August Kranti Maidan, Mumbai. The time to protest on social media alone is over. pic.twitter.com/lwkyCHk2v
— Farhan Akhtar (@FarOutAkhtar) December 18, 2019
Akhtar is not the lone artist to face a criminal charge following his protest against the ongoing citizenship amendment. Rang De Basanti (2006) actor Siddharth was also among 600 protestors booked by the Chennai police for protesting on the 19 December.
The actor, along with singer TM Krishna, have been booked by the Chennai police under section 143 and section 41 of the Madras City Police Act.
In a similar circumstance, actress Parineeti Chopra has reportedly been removed as the ambassador of Haryana government's 'Beti Bachao Beti Padhao' campaign. While there has been no confirmation to the reason, the decision came soon after the actress tweeted condemning the violence against students in the anti-CAA protests.