December 25, 2017
An official of the Republican Party of India-A on Monday
filed a fresh complaint against actress-entrepreneur Shilpa Shetty and superstar
Salman Khan for using the word "bhangi" on a public platform, hurting the
sentiments of the Scheduled Caste community. They plan to protest against the
two celebrities if police does not take due action.
Kishor Kumar Masoom,
the Vice President of the Republican Party of India-A, told IANS that a new
complaint was filed at the Goregaon police station here on Monday. The party had
earlier lodged a complaint against the actors on December 23 at the Andheri
police station.
However, since no action was taken by the police, Masoom
told IANS: "I know that Shilpa Shetty said 'sorry' for her action on Twitter but
that does not change the reality. And according to the law, they should get
imprisonment of five years.
"So we are saying that if the police and law
system will not take action against Salman and Shilpa within 48 hours, we, the
Dalit Samaj across the country will protest and in a democratic way, will urge
the authority to protect the law by punishing them for their wrong deeds."
A statement released by Masoom's lawyer, which read: "Salman along with
Katrina Kaif on a TV show used the insulting word 'bhangi' against a member of
the scheduled caste.
"Actor Shilpa Shetty stated in an interview 'I look
like a bhangi' - it appears from her statement that she is encouraging and
spreading ill-feeling among the entire society. He also intentionally insulted
members of the Scheduled Caste. Both actors have committed offence under
sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of
Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, and Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955."
After the first complaint was lodged, Shilpa had tweeted: "Some of my words
from an interview in the past have been misinterpreted. It was never said with
the intent of hurting anyone's feelings... I apologize if they have. I'm proud
to belong to a country that boasts of diverse castes and creeds and I respect
each one of them."