Kangana Ranaut booked in Shimla over post on Gandhi family, Sonia Gandhi

Shimla: The Himachal Pradesh Police have registered an FIR against BJP MP Kangana Ranaut over a social media post about the Gandhi family. The case was lodged on Friday, November 13, after a Shimla resident complained that the post could stir up unrest.

The complainant is retired Captain Atul Sharma. He objects to a post Kangana Ranaut put up on her verified account on November 10. According to him, it carried “highly inflammatory insinuations” about the deaths of former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and her sons Sanjay Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi.

Shimla Superintendent of Police Gaurav Singh confirmed that the FIR has been registered and said an investigation will now follow.

What the complaint says

Sharma’s complaint also takes issue with how Sonia Gandhi was described. He says the post called her a “mysterious foreign national.” It also allegedly suggested she was at a cafe abroad before members of the Gandhi family were killed one after another and that she later ended up “at the head of the government.” The post reportedly closed with the line “How convenient.”

Sharma says the post also brought up Maneka Gandhi leaving the family home after Sanjay Gandhi’s death.

In his view, this went well past ordinary political criticism. He argues it could feed public hostility, damage communal harmony and disturb peace. He also alleges the post spread misleading claims that could cause fear or alarm and promote enmity between groups.

Sections invoked

The FIR has been filed under Sections 196(1)(b), 353(2) and 356(2) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).

Sharma emailed his complaint to the Director General of Police at 7:51 pm on Thursday. He asked for an FIR to be registered immediately and for a time-bound cyber-forensic examination of the post. The police say the matter is under investigation.

The timing

Kangana Ranaut’s post appeared while an old home video from around 1981 was circulating online again. The clip shows a family dinner with Indira Gandhi, Sonia Gandhi, Maneka Gandhi and a young Rahul and Priyanka Gandhi.

It also went up on the same day Sonia Gandhi’s memoir, Belonging: A Journey of Love, was released.

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