Mumbai: An FIR has been lodged in Mumbai against actor Munmun Dutta for allegedly using a derogatory term against a community in a video that went viral on social media. Munmun Dutta features in the popular TV show, “Taarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashmah”. She has been booked under the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, 1989.
The case relates to the remark that the “Taarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashma” actor made in a video about make-up, which she had posted on a social media platform on 9 May, in which she used a word for a specific community, police said. The video had gone viral on social media platforms.
“The case against Dutta was registered on 26 May based on a complaint lodged by Naresh Bohit (40), a community leader and a worker of a political party, at Goregaon police station on 12 May,” the police official said. Since the actor resides in Amboli police station limits, the complaint application was forwarded to that police station, he said. After the investigation, the FIR against the actor was registered on Wednesday.
Based on an earlier complaint lodged by Akhil Bharatiya Balai Mahasangh president Manoj Parmar, an FIR was registered against Dutta under relevant sections of the Scheduled Castes and Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Act, the official said. In his complaint, Parmar said that the use of a “racist” word by Dutta in her video has hurt the sentiments of the Scheduled Caste community, especially the Valmiki community.
Similar FIRs were lodged against Dutta in Haryana and Madhya Pradesh after a portion of the YouTube video went viral on social media wherein she was allegedly heard using a derogatory term.
However, Dutta, who plays the role of Babita in “Tarak Mehta Ka Ooltah Chashmah”, later apologised for her controversial remarks. The actress had released her apology on May 10 on social media.
Munmun Dutta had drawn flak on social media as soon as she uploaded the video. On 10 May, she uploaded an apology video. She said, “This is in reference to a video that I posted yesterday wherein one word used by me has been misinterpreted. It was never said with the intent of insult, intimidate, humiliate or hurt anyone’s feelings. Because of my language barrier, I was genuinely misinformed about the meaning of the word. Once I was made aware of its meaning, I immediately took the part down. I have utmost respect for every single person from every caste, creed or gender and acknowledge their immense contribution to our society or nation, the actor wrote. I sincerely would like to apologise to every single person who have been unintentionally hurt by the usage of the word and I sincerely regret for the same”.
Recently, actor Randeep Hooda, singer and host Aditya Narayan and actress Yuvika Chaudhary received severe backlash on social media for using casteist slurs in their videos.a