Lekha G –
The Supreme Court has stayed investigation in the FIRs registered against actor Munmun Dutta over a “Bhangi” remark, a casteist slur, made by her in a video posted on social media.
The Bench of Justices Hemant Gupta and V Ramasubramanian issued notice on her prayer to club and consolidate the various FIRs lodged in several states against her and also said the petitioner could approach the Court to refrain from curbing future filing of FIRs.
Senior Advocate Puneet Bali, representing the petitioner contended that due to language barrier the actor was unaware of the true meaning of the term. He also argued that the complaints had been filed for publicity and there was no mens rea present.
It was also further submitted that, “She is agreeing that she said it, but the context was different. I can show the video. There is only one relief that this Court can grant me and the High Court cannot. Similar reliefs have been granted in matters of Amish Patel etc. 5 FIRs on the same thing in 5 different States.”
However, the Court stated that, “That is not true. You may not be informed. Everyone knows the meaning. Same word is used in Bangla. She was in Calcutta when she said this.”
5 FIRs had been filed under Section 3(1)(u) Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act against Munmun Dutta for usage of a casteist slur in an Instagram video.
