Kangana, sister asked to appear before Mumbai cops next week
Mumbai:Mumbai Police on Wednesday issued notices to Bollywood actor Kangana Ranaut and her sister Rangoli Chandel, asking them to appear before cops next week to record their statements in connection with a case filed against them for allegedly promoting enmity between communities through their remarks, an official said.
The Bandra Metropolitan Magistrate's court had on Saturday ordered the police to investigate a complaint filed by Munawwar Ali Sayyed, a Bollywood casting director and fitness trainer, which referred to Ranaut's and her sister's tweets and other statements.
On the directions of the court, Bandra Police had registered a First Information Report against Ranaut and her sister under IPC sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, etc), 295A (deliberate acts hurting religious sentiments) and 124-A (sedition), 34 (common intention), the police official said.
"We have issued notices to Ranaut and her sister, asking them to appear before the police in connection with the FIR registered against them. They have been asked to remain present on Monday and Tuesday," he said.
In the complaint submitted before the court, Sayyed had alleged that Ranaut has been defaming Bollywood for the last two months by calling it a "hub of nepotism", "favouritism", etc, through her tweets and television interviews.
She also tweeted "very objectionable" comments, which not only hurt his religious sentiments, but also the feelings of many artists and she was trying to divide artists on communal lines, the complainant had alleged.
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SC stays UGC regulation pertaining to definition of caste discrimination
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed a recent University Grants Commission (UGC) regulation after various pleas were filed contending that the Commission adopted a non-inclusionary definition of caste-based discrimination and excluded certain categories from institutional protection.
A bench of Chief Justice Surya Kant and Justice Joymalya Bagchi issued notices to the Centre and the UGC on the pleas challenging the regulation.
The new regulations mandating all higher education institutions to form "equity committees" to look into discrimination complaints and promote equity were notified on January 13.
The University Grants Commission (Promotion of Equity in Higher Education Institutions) Regulations, 2026, mandated that these committees must include members of the Other Backward Classes (OBC), the Scheduled Castes (SC), the Scheduled Tribes (ST), persons with disabilities, and women.
The new regulations replaces the UGC (Promotion of Equity in Higher Educational Institutions) Regulations, 2012, which was largely advisory in nature.
The pleas assailed the regulation on the grounds that caste-based discrimination is defined strictly as discrimination against members of the SCs, STs and OBCs.
It said that by limiting the scope of "caste-based discrimination" only to SC, ST and OBC categories, the UGC has effectively denied institutional protection and grievance redressal to individuals belonging to the "general" or non-reserved categories who may also face harassment or bias based on their caste identity.
Protests were held at various places against the regulations, with student groups and organisations demanding its immediate rollback.
