Lawyer who filed sedition case against celebs, files 'protest petition'

After the Bihar police ordered closure of the sedition case filed against 49 personalities, who had signed an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi over rising incidents of mob lynching, the complainant on Thursday filed a "protest petition" against the police.

Advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha, in the fresh petition filed before Chief Judicial Magistrate Surya Kant Tiwari, alleged the police acted "under political pressure" and urged the court to monitor the case or hand it over to the Central Bureau of Investigation.

"The FIR was lodged on my complaint. The date of hearing for my protest petition has been fixed as November 11. The police has to submit its closure report before the court where I would oppose the same," Ojha told reporters.

The FIR was filed at Sadar police station last week after the CJM allowed a petition filed by Ojha, under section 156(3) of the CrPC, in July, seeking directions to the police to register a case against the signatories to the open letter.

Those named as accused included historian Ramachandra Guha, filmmakers Shyam Benegal, Anurag Kashyap, Mani Ratnam and Adoor Gopalakrishnan, actors Aparna Sen, Soumitra Chatterjee and Revathi besides light classical singer Shubha Mudgal.

Bollywood personalities critical of the move like Kangana Ranaut, Madhur Bhandarkar and Vivek Agnihotri were named as witnesses.

Notably, Bihar Deputy Chief Minister and senior BJP leader Sushil Kumar Modi had also come out with a statement on Wednesday, asserting his party had nothing to do with the filing of the FIR and called Ojha a "serial litigant" by whom he too had been named in a litigation four years ago.