Bombay high court grants Kangana Ranaut, sister interim protection from arrest

The Bombay high court on Tuesday granted Kangana Ranaut, and her sister Rangoli Chandel, interim protection from arrest in connection with a first information report (FIR) filed the by Mumbai police over allegedly communal tweets. 

The division bench comprising justice SS Shinde and justice MS Karnik offered interim protection to the sisters on the condition that they would appear before the Bandra police station on 8 January between 12 and 2 pm to make a statement. 

The sisters have also been prevented from making any statement on their social media pages with regards to the case while the matter is sub judice. 

The actress and her sister were charged by the Mumbai police for their tweets in October, based on a complaint by Munawar Ali Sayyed, a casting director. 

According to the legal website, LiveLaw.in, justice Shinde and justice Karnik questioned the police's decision to charge the sisters under section 124A of the Indian Penal Code, which applied to sedition. The website quoted justice Shinde as saying, "If anybody does not fall within the line of the government, will that be sedition?"

The bench also pulled up the sister's counsel, Rizwan Siddiquee, over his clients' absence. Dismissing the claim that the sisters were unable to answer the summons owing to a family wedding, the bench said that it was inappropriate for them to answer summons by post, rather than in person.