Shimla: A Shimla resident has lodged a complaint with Himachal Pradesh DGP Ashok Tewari seeking registration of an FIR and a time-bound investigation against the BJP MP from Mandi, Kangana Ranaut, for her social media posts, which allegedly contain grave insinuations concerning the deaths of former Prime Ministers Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi, and Congress leader Sanjay Gandhi, besides portraying Sonia Gandhi as a mysterious foreign national.In his complaint, Capt Atul Sharma (retd) objected to a social media post published on Kangana’s verified account—@KanganaTeam—on Nov 10. The complainant alleged that the post juxtaposed the deaths of the three Gandhi family members with Sonia Gandhi’s subsequent political rise, using expressions such as “how convenient”.He claimed that the narrative could create misleading impressions of suspicious connections between the deaths and political succession. The complainant stated his complaint was not aimed at curbing freedom of expression or legitimate political criticism, but sought scrutiny of potentially inflammatory and unsubstantiated imputations capable of disturbing public tranquillity and constituting offences.Capt Sharma urged the police to examine the posts under Sections 196 (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony) and 353 (making, publishing, or circulating false information, rumors, reports, or alarming news via any medium, including electronic/social media, with the intent to cause fear, alarm, or public disorder, or to incite hatred, enmity, or ill-will between different religious, racial, linguistic, or regional groups) of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).The complainant also sought a cyber forensic examination to establish the posts’ authenticity, context and dissemination. He also sought verification of the archival video referenced in the posts and an assessment of its potential impact on public tranquillity.
