The Bombay high court on August 22 directed clubbing of all the FIRs against Marathi TV actress Ketaki Chitale for her social media post against NCP president Sharad Pawar. There were 22 FIRs filed against her across Maharashtra.
“We find no impediment for clubbing the FIRs,” said Justices Nitin Jamdar and Nitin Borkar. Chitale had filed a petition to quash all the FIRs and to also club them as per the Supreme Court judgement in Amish Devgan’s case on multiplicity of FIRs. The judges directed that the first FIR lodged by the Kalwa police against her would be treated as the principal FIR and all the others be transferred to it.
The judges directed the state and the complainants to file their replies to Chitale’s petition, including on her prayer to declare her arrest illegal and for compensation before the next hearing on September 6. Ketaki was sent to jail in May this year for an allegedly derogatory social media post about Pawar.