'Casteist' Remark: P&H High Court Dismisses Munmun Dutta's Pre Arrest Bail Plea, Allows Her To Approach Sessions Court

The Punjab and Haryana High Court today dismissed (as withdrawn) the anticipatory bail plea filed by actor Munmun Dutta (best known for her portrayal of Babita Iyer in the popular Hindi serial Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah) over 'Bhangi' remark, a casteist slur, allegedly made by her in a video posted in social media.

The Bench of Justice Avneesh Jhingan was hearing her plea filed under Section 438 Cr.P.C. seeking anticipatory bail in May 2021 FIR (at Hansi) under Section 3(1)(u) of Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.

After arguing for some time and realizing that the petitioner had not approached the Sessions Court, the Counsel for the petitioner sought permission to withdraw the petition with liberty to approach Sessions Court.

With this, the Court dismissed the plea as withdrawn with liberty as prayed for.

It may be noted that in total, five FIRs had been filed under Section 3(1)(u) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Munmun Dutta for the usage of the casteist slur in a youtube video.

Thereafter, all the FIRs were ordered to be clubbed by the Supreme Court and the one registered at Hansi city was ordered to be treated as the main FIR The actor has publicly apologized for the same and stated that there was a language barrier due to which she was not aware of its meaning.

Ms. Ruchi Sekhri, Advocate appeared for the petitioner and Ms. Dimple Jain, AAG, appeared for the state of Haryana.

Case title - Mun Mun Dutta v. State of Haryana

Citation- 2022 LiveLaw (PH) 6

Click Here To Read/Download Order