Quash the FIR on 49 celebrities: Kamal Haasan to SC

Tamil film icon and Makkal Needhi Maiam (MNM) President Kamal Haasan on Tuesday “requested” the Supreme Court to step in and quash the FIR lodged against 49 celebrities who wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi voicing concern over growing incidents of mob lynching.

Four days after the FIR was registered on the directions of a court in Muzaffarpur in Bihar, Kamal Haasan took to Twitter to express solidarity with the 49 personalities, including directors Aparna Sen, Adoor Gopalakrishnan and writer-columnist Ramchandra Guha, who were booked on the charges of sedition.

Tamil filmmaker Mani Ratnam is also named in the FIR as he was also one of the signatories in the letter sent to Modi in July. Kamal Haasan, in his trademark style, pushed the ball onto the Prime Minister’s court saying he had sought a harmonious India on the floor of Parliament.

“The Prime minister seeks a harmonious India. His statements in the parliament confirm it. Should not the state and it's law follow it in letter and spirit? 49 of my peers have been accused, of sedition, contradicting the PM's aspirations. I request as a citizen that Our Supreme court move in to uphold justice with Democracy and quash the case emanating from Bihar,” Haasan tweeted.

The letter, written in July, was signed by 49 eminent personalities asking the Prime Minister to stop lynching of Muslims, Dalits and other minorities, while stressing there was "no democracy without dissent". It had also noted that the 'Jai Shri Ram' slogan was reduced to a "provocative war cry".