"No arrest for Kangana Ranaut till Jan 25," says: Mumbai Police

Ms Ranaut was charged charges of deliberately hurting the community's religious sentiments under the Indian Penal Code.

New Delhi: Manikarnika Actress Kangana Ranaut will not be arrested till January 25 over her social media post that allegedly linked farmers' protests to a separatist group, the Mumbai police told the Bombay High Court today.

According to the sources, the Mumbai police said the issue involved the larger question of Ms Ranaut's fundamental right to free speech and that the court will have to grant her some ad-interim relief. 

Earlier this month, actress Ranaut approached the High Court for the FIR registered against her in November this year to be quashed.

In a plea, Ms Ranuat said while the complainants took objection to her Instagram post made on November 21, there was no legal case made out against her.

A Sikh organisation had filed a complaint at Khar police station in Mumbai claiming that Ms Ranaut, through her Instagram post, had portrayed the farmers' protest on Delhi borders as a "Khalistani" movement.

Following the complaint, the police booked Ms Kangana on charges of deliberately hurting the community's religious sentiments under the Indian Penal Code.

On Monday, Ms Ranaut's counsel told the High Court that to invoke the charges; an accused must have made the offensive comment with the deliberate and malicious intent of hurting a particular person or a community's religious sentiments. However, in the present case, the actor had no such intention, advocate Rizwan Siddiqui, who appeared for the actor, said.

The bench went through Ms Ranaut's social media post in question and agreed with her counsel's submission.

According to the bench of Justices Nitin Jamdar and Sarang Kotwal said to the prosecution, "Where is the deliberate and malicious intent here? Section 295 says that should be the sole and dominant object." The bench then asked the police if they intended to arrest Ms Ranaut in the case.

Chief Public Prosecutor Aruna Pai, who appeared for the police, said the Khar police had issued a notice to Ms Ranaut, ask her to appear before them for questioning, but the actor hadn't responded to it yet.

"We have issued a notice to her (Ranaut) under Section 41A of the CrPC on December 1, but she hasn't responded. She isn't cooperating," Mr Pai said.

A notice under Section 41A of the Criminal Procedure Code (CrPC) is issued to an accused in cases where immediate arrest is not necessary, but the accused's presence is required at the police station for questioning.