Bombay High Court To Hear Plea Seeking Suspension Of Kangana Ranaut's Twitter Account On March 9

The Bombay High Court has set March 9, 2021, to hear a petition seeking suspension of actor Kangana Ranaut's twitter account following an urgent application moved by the petitioner on her tweets allegedly calling protesting farmers "terrorists".

The petitioner, who is an advocate, sought an urgent hearing of his plea, claiming the actor had not stopped her "outrageous conduct" even after the petition was filed, in December, 2020. He cited a recent incident where the actor allegedly called farmers, "terrorists," trying to divide India, for a Chinese invasion.

The division bench of Justices SS Shinde and Manish Pitale heard advocate Ali Kaashif Deshmukh and posted the matter for hearing on March, 9, 2021 for legal arguments.

"The court granted circulation of my petition, seeking suspension of Kangana Ranaut's Twitter account and posted the matter for arguments on March 9, 2021 on whether the petition should be treated as PIL or not," Deshmukh said.

During an earlier hearing the bench had asked Deshmukh to explain why should his petition be treated as a writ petition and not a Public Interest Litigation (PIL), as his claims of injury were not personal but involved the entire Muslim community.

Additional public prosecutor JP Yagnik, appearing on behalf of the state, submitted the petition was vague and did not raise any grievance about any personal injury to the petitioner. He opposed the petition and sought its dismissal.

Deshmukh had said the actor's tweets are directed only towards one particular community.

In his petition, Deshmukh has sought suspension of Ranaut's account just the way her sister Rangoli Chandel's account was suspended on the ground that the account was being used to spread hatred and disharmony in the country.

"It is absolutely essential in the interest of safety and security of India that this hate mongering needs to be immediately stopped…," the lawyer has said in his praecipe filed before the court on Tuesday.

The petition being at a preliminary stage, Ranaut was not represented by a lawyer in the court hearing, as the court is yet to issue a notice to her. However, when Live Law approached her legal representative, he declined to comment.