Sedition case against Anurag Kashyap, Naseeruddin Shah and others dropped by Bihar Police

10 Oct 2019

The Bihar Police, on Wednesday, ordered closure of a sedition case filed against 49 celebrities including Anurag Kashyap, Shyam Benegal and Naseeruddin Shah.A few months after the celebrities wrote a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over lynchings and religious war cry,local advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha filed a complaint inMuzaffarpur, following which a sedition case was lodged. The list of accused also included historian Ramachandra Guha, actors Soumitra Chatterjee, Aparna Sena, filmmaker Mani Ratnam , actor Revathi and singer Shubha Mudgal. Citing the case as false, the police said that actions will be taken against the petitioner. Ojha, who defended prime accused,Brajesh Thakur in the Muzaffarpur shelter home sexual abuse case has earlier filed over 700 PILs against personalities likeManmohan Singh, Amitabh Bachchan and Hrithik Roshan to name a few. The concerned investigating officer in the present case has been directed to file the final report in a day or two, and further actions against the petitioner will then be determined. The sedition case caused rage in people of all spheres, and also drew flak from public figures including Rahul Gandhi. Actor Naseeruddin Shah and various others from the artists fraternity wrote another letter, asking how could sending a letter to the countrys Prime Minister and demanding his attention be called seditious.