Surat court orders registration of criminal case against Anurag Kashyap for comments on Brahmins

The complainant, who hails from the Brahmin community, moved the court over Kashyap's "objectionable" social media post which he said defamed the entire Brahmin community.

Surat: A court in Surat in Gujarat on Saturday ordered the registration of a criminal case against filmmaker-actor Anurag Kashyap over his social media remarks on the Brahmin community.

The court of Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) A S Jani partly allowed a private complaint filed by lawyer and Vishva Hindu Parishad leader Kamlesh Raval, and directed that a criminal case be registered against Kashyap after noting there is reason to believe the social media post was made viral by the accused in a way that it defames a certain community.

The court directed registration of a case under Bharatiya Nyay Sanhita sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups), 352 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of public peace) and 353 (2) (circulating false information).

The complainant, who hails from the Brahmin community, moved the court over Kashyap's "objectionable" social media post on X which he said defamed the entire Brahmin community.

As per the complainant, Kashyap's reply to a post opposing his statement was also objectionable and was an attempt to make the entire Brahmin community feel insulted.

On April 16 last year, the All India Brahman Samaj objected to the trailer release of the Hindi film "Phule." Reacting to this, Kashyap posted a statement on X denigrating the Brahmin community, and continued to do so in his reply to a post objecting to this, the complainant said.

"The entire Brahmin community has opposed the post of the accused. Such a post poses a danger of spreading enmity between communities and different castes. The accused is in the business of making Indian films and is also an actor. From young children to old people, everyone watches movies and tries to imitate actors," the complainant stated.

As per the complaint, Kashyap had earlier posted an objectionable post for Hindus on January 8, 2020 and had accused the Union government of being "casteist" and having a "criminal mentality".

Several summons were sent to the accused but he failed to respond, after which the court even issued a non-bailable warrant against him, Raval said.