Farmers' protest: Kangana Ranaut faces legal notices over her tweet, which she has deleted now
Highlights
- Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee has sent legal notice to actor
- Her tweets portray farmers protest as anti-national, Committee chief said
- A Punjab-based lawyer has also sent a legal notice to Kangana Ranaut
Actor Kangana Ranaut has been asked to apologise for her "derogatory" tweet on an elderly woman who she said was "available for Rs 100", suggesting she can hired to attend protests. A day after sending a legal notice to the actor, the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee's (DSGMC) chief Manjinder Singh Sirsa said Ms Ranaut should give an "unconditional apology" within a week. The actor has deleted the tweet on the massive protest by farmers in and around Delhi against the centre's new farm laws.
"We have sent a legal notice to @KanganaTeam for her derogatory tweet calling the aged mother of a farmer as a woman available for Rs 100. Her tweets portray farmers protest as anti-national. We demand an unconditional apology from her for her insensitive remarks on farmers protest," Mr Sirsa tweeted today.
The DSGMC is a powerful representative of Sikhs in the national capital; it's a statutory body set up under the Sikh Gurdwara Act, 1971, which says it has to look after the day-to-day affairs of the community.
Bilkis Bano, the octogenarian who became the face of the months-long anti-citizenship law protest in Delhi's Shaheen Bagh locality, was on Tuesday stopped by Delhi Police from joining the farmers' protest. However, Ms Kangana tweeted a photo of another elderly woman and asserted that she was Ms Bano, suggesting she could be "hired" to attend protests.
A Punjab-based lawyer, Harkam Singh, has also sent a legal notice to Ms Ranaut. "It is to inform you that the said lady is not a fake lady. Her name is Mahinder Kaur and she belongs to Bathinda. She is the wife of farmer Labh Singh Nambardar..." Mr Singh said in the notice.
The DSGMC drew Ms Ranaut's attention to how she used social media to gather support from her fans, claiming her fundamental rights were violated, when a part of her office in Mumbai was demolished. It said the "the right to peacefully protest is a part of the farmers' rights under the Constitution and she cannot claim a right to demean and insult them."
At least 40 farmer leaders are meeting at the Delhi-Haryana border to discuss their next action after after Thursday's meeting with the government failed to end the deadlock over the new farm laws.
The farmer representatives stuck to their demand for the repeal of the laws. The third round of meeting with the centre will be held tomorrow.