Case Against Marathi Actor Ketaki Chitale Over Comments On Atrocities Act

A case has been registered against Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale for allegedly hurting sentiments with claims about misuse of the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), police said on Friday.

Speaking at the 'Brahmin Ekya Parishad' conference at Parli in Maharashtra's Beed district on February 25, Ms Chitale allegedly called for a scrutiny of cases registered under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act in the last five years to check how many of them were genuine.

Information should be obtained under the Right to Information Act as filing false cases under the Atrocities Act has become a racket, she allegedly said.

Premnath Jagatkar, a local resident, lodged a complaint at Parli city police station after listening to the speech online, a police official said.

A First Information Report was registered against Ms Chitale and the organiser of the conference Bajirao Dharmadhikari on Thursday under Indian Penal Code sections 295-A (hurting religious sentiments) and 505 (2) (statements creating enmity between classes), the official added.

No arrest has been made in the case.

Ms Chitale had faced arrest in 2022 for allegedly sharing a derogatory post about NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media. She later got bail.
 

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