The Calcutta High Court has quashed an FIR against well-known actor and BJP leader Mithun Chakraborty registered at a police station in Kolkata. The FIR lodged on May 6 alleged that the dialogues uttered by him at a public rally amounted to promoting disharmony, enmity or feelings of hatred.
Addressing a rally at Brigade Parade Grounds on March 7, the actor-turned-politician uttered popular dialogues from his films, “Marbo ekhane, laash porbe shoshane [I’ll strike you here and corpse will land straight in the crematorium]” and “Ami joldhorao noi, bele borao noi... ami ekta cobra, ek chobol-ei chobi [I am not any harmless snake, I am a cobra that can kill you in one strike]’.
The order by Justice Kaushik Chanda pointed out that since Mr. Chakraborty did not deny the fact he uttered these dialogues and the context in which they were delivered, any further police investigation of the present case would be an “unnecessary and vexatious exercise”.
“The two dialogues in question are fundamentally funny, hilarious, and entertaining; it is futile to try to find the elements of hate speech in them,” Justice Chanda said in his order, adding that “film stars try to entertain and attract voters by saying cinematic dialogues in political rallies. The case in hand is no exception.”
‘Popular dialogues’
“It is a matter of fact that the dialogues ‘Marbo Ekhane Laash Porbe Shoshaney’ and ‘Ek Choboley Chobi’ are the two popular dialogues from the Bengali movies namely, M.L.A. Fatakeshto and Abhimanyu respectively, “ the order delivered on December 9 stated.
Justice Chanda observed that that the dialogues were uttered on March 7, 2021, whereas the complaint before the police was registered on May 6, 2021, after the announcement of the Assembly Election results on May 2, 2021.
“Even if the effect of such utterance is judged from the standard of weak and vacillating minds, it cannot be said that there is any proximate nexus between the dialogues uttered by the petitioner and the widespread violence that took place in the State after the Assembly Election,” the order said.
The actor joined the BJP on March 7 at a public rally in Kolkata in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was one of the star campaigners of the party in the polls but has not been seen to participate in activities of the BJP after the election.
