Marathi actor Ketaki Chitale is now facing a registered case for purportedly causing offense with her statements regarding the potential misuse of the SC-ST (Prevention of Atrocities Act), as revealed by the police on Friday. During her address at the 'Brahmin Ekya Parishad' conference in Parli, Beed district, Maharashtra, on February 25, Chitale allegedly urged an examination of cases filed under the Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act over the past five years to assess their legitimacy.
She reportedly advocated for obtaining information under the Right to Information Act, asserting that false cases under the Atrocities Act had evolved into a widespread racket. Following an online broadcast of the speech, Premnath Jagatkar, a resident of the locality, filed a complaint with the Parli city police station, as confirmed by a police official. On Thursday, a First Information Report (FIR) was filed against Chitale and conference organizer Bajirao Dharmadhikari, citing Indian Penal Code sections 295-A (offending religious sentiments) and 505 (2) (making statements that promote hostility between classes), according to the official.
No arrests have been executed in the ongoing case. Chitale had a prior encounter with the law in 2022 when she was apprehended for purportedly posting a derogatory message about NCP chief Sharad Pawar on social media. She was subsequently granted bail.
Image Source: Instagram