"The magistrate has accepted the case and will hear it on August 3," the complainant lawyer told ANI.
A criminal complaint has been filed in a court in Muzaffarpur against actor Anurag Kashyap, Konkona Sena Sharma and some others who wrote an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over the incidents of mob lynching.
The city-based lawyer Sudhir Ojha on Saturday filed the case in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate Sury Kant Tiwari against nine people including Konkona Sen Sharma and Aparna Sen.
According to the complainant, the case has been filed under Sections 124a (sedition), 153B (assertions prejudicial to national integration), 290 (public nuisance), 297 (trespass to wound religious feelings), 504 (intentional insults) of the India Penal Code (IPC).
"The magistrate has accepted the case and will hear it on August 3," the complainant lawyer told ANI.
1. 'Threat to national integrity'
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In his complaint, he alleged that the intellectuals' letter is a threat to national integrity and intends to malign India's image abroad.
Ojha said: "I have alleged that 49 intellectuals who have written an open letter to the Prime Minister have tried to malign the country's image abroad. They are trying to break this country into pieces in collusion with separatists."
"I have demanded that legal action should be initiated against them under 156 (3) of CrPc," he added.
2. 49 intellectuals wrote an open letter on June 23
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Expressing concern over instances of mob violence against Muslims and Dalits, 49 intellectuals wrote an open letter on July 23 to Prime Minister Modi demanding to ensure "exemplary punishment" for the perpetrators of such crimes.
Signatories to the letter include Shubha Mudgal, actor Konkona Sen Sharma, and filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, and Mani Ratnam, among others.
The letter also highlighted that 'Jai Shri Ram' is becoming a "provocative war-cry".
In response to the letter, the government has said that Dalits and minorities are safe in the country and that those who are "yet to recover" from the defeat in the Lok Sabha polls are trying to communalise "criminal incidents"
3. Celebs write counter letter
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Three days after a group of eminent citizens wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the lynching of minorities and hate crimes, 61 high profile personalities from various fields on Friday responded with a counter statement against "selective outrage and false narratives".
The July 23 letter by 49 "self-styled guardians and conscience keepers" expressed selective concerns and demonstrated a "clear political bias and motive", said the statement signed by actor Kangana Ranaut, lyricist Prasoon Joshi, dancer Sonal Mansingh and filmmakers Madhur Bhandarkar and Vivek Agnihotri and others.
"It (the July 23 letter) is aimed at tarnishing India's international standing and to negatively portray the prime minister's untiring efforts to effectuate governance on the foundations of positive nationalism and humanism which is the core of Indianess," the statement read.
The document of selective outrage, it said, comes across as an "attempt to foist a false narrative with the intention of denigrating the democratic ethos and norms of our collective functioning as a nation and people".
