A Chandigarh court has issued notices to BJP MP and actress Kangana Ranaut and others over a complaint was filed which accused them of maligning the image of Sikhs in her upcoming movie ‘Emergency’.

The notices were issued by the Chandigarh district court on Tuesday on a plea filed by advocate Ravinder Singh Bassi, who is also the president of the NGO Lawyers for Humanity, PTI reported.

The respondents have been asked to file their replies by December 5.

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Bassi in his petition alleged that Ranaut and other respondents have in the movie ‘Emergency’ tried to “malign the image of Sikhs” and particularly “targeted” the former Jathedar of the Akal Takth by portraying him as a “terrorist”.

“The accused without studying the proper historical facts and figures had portrayed Sikhs in bad shape and also made wrong and false allegations against the supreme temporal seat of the Sikh community as in the trailer of the movie it was shown that the sitting Jathedar of Sri Akal Takth Sahib was demanding separate state which is totally false and it was shown just to malign the image of Sikhs and the Akal Takth Jathedars,” Bassi alleged in the plea.

“That by this act and conduct of the accused, they hurt the sentiments and feelings of the Sikh community in general and the deponent,” the petition filed by Bassi, the former president of the District Bar Association, Chandigarh, said, PTI reported.

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He also alleged that “the actress, producer and director of the film ‘Emergency’, whose trailer has been released on the social media platform is a trouble creator and many times, created differences between communities by uttering provoking statements and speeches against the minorities”.

The petitioner has demanded an FIR against Ranaut and two other respondents under section 196(1) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language and doing acts of prejudicial to maintenance of harmony), 197(1) (punishment for making or publishing false or misleading information that could jeopardise India’ sovereignty, unity, integrity or security), 302 (uttering words etc with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person) and 299 (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of Bharatiya Nagrik Suraksha Sanhita, 2023.

Ranaut’s directorial venture “Emergency” has been embroiled in a massive controversy after Sikh organisations, including the Shiromani Akali Dal, accused it of misrepresenting the community and twisting historical facts.

She recently said she was forced to sell off her property in Mumbai after the movie’s release was postponed due to delay in getting a censor certificate.

The political drama, written by Kangana Ranaut and co-produced by Zee Studios and the actor’s Manikarnika Films, is based on the Emergency imposed by the Indira Gandhi government in 1975. It also features Anupam Kher, Shreyas Talpade, Vishak Nair, Mahima Chaudhry and Milind Soman in pivotal roles.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises approached the Bombay High Court earlier this month, seeking its intervention to clear the film for release. But the court refused to grant any urgent relief.

(With inputs from PTI)