Bombay High Court To Hear Plea Seeking Kangana Ranaut's Twitter Account Suspension On March 9th

The Bombay High Court on Tuesday said it would hear a plea seeking either suspension or termination of the Twitter account of Kangana Ranaut on March 9 though the petitioner sought an urgent hearing claiming the actor recently posted a tweet calling the protesting farmers "terrorists".

The petitioner Ali Kashif Khan Deshmukh, who is an advocate, on Tuesday moved an application before a division bench of Justices S S Shinde and Manish Pitale seeking an urgent hearing on his petition, filed in December last year, seeking termination of Ranaut's Twitter account. In his application, Deshmukh cited certain tweets posted by Ranaut on Twitter in which she allegedly called the farmers, who are protesting at Delhi's borders against the three new farm laws, "terrorists".

The bench said it would be able to hear the plea only on March 9. In his petition, Deshmukh had claimed that Ranaut's posts on Twitter were spreading hatred among different religious communities. The Maharashtra government had, however, opposed the plea, saying it was vague. Last week, Twitter India had removed two of the tweets by Ranaut, citing a violation of the platform's rules. The actor has been criticising protesting farmers over their agitations against the Centre's three farm laws.

Ranaut has been actively posting on Twitter since last Tuesday when international pop star Rihanna came out in support of the farmers' agitations. On February 5, a magistrate's court in Mumbai directed the police to submit a progress report on the inquiry it had ordered into a complaint filed by Deshmukh against Ranaut and her sister for posting alleged hateful messages on social media.