In the wake of the coronavirus outbreak in India, a lawyer in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur has filed an FIR against the President of the People’s Republic of China, Xi Jinping and the Chinese ambassador to India for allegedly spreading coronavirus across the world. Advocate Sudhir Kumar Ojha cited a book written in 1981 to reinforce his stand that China has hatched a conspiracy to disseminate the novel coronavirus in the world.

HERE! Listen to the gem explaining the case.



“माननीय न्यायालय ने मामले को ‘गंभीरता’ से लेते हुए 11 अप्रैल की तारिख मुकर्रर की है”!



मामला सच में गंभीर है भैया! 😭 pic.twitter.com/ZOQ1qvh3qT — Prashant Kumar (@scribe_prashant) March 16, 2020

The matter has been listed by the court to be heard on April 11. Informing about the development, advocate Ojha said, “A book was published in 1981 in which it was written in clear terms that China is surreptitiously preparing a virus in Wuhan which has manifested in the form of coronavirus today. China has deliberately spread the virus through a conspiracy and a lot of people have contracted the virus, while many others have died of it. In this regard, I have filed a case of abetment under Section 120(B)(criminal conspiracy to commit an offence) and Section 270(malignant act likely to spread disease) against Chinese Premier Xi Jinping and the Chinese Ambassador to India Sun Weidong in the Muzaffarabad court. The court has taken the matter seriously and granted a hearing on the case on April 11.”

Coronavirus pandemic is believed to have emerged from one of the streets of the wet markets in the Chinese central city of Wuhan. The contagion spread like a wildfire across the world, affecting about 1,75,000 people globally and has so far claimed lives of more than 6600 people across the globe. The spread of the pandemic in India is so far under control, with about 115 cases reported from the across the country so far. Several state governments and local authorities have endorsed social distancing and ordered closures of public places to curtail the spread of the virus.

It is pertinent to note that the case against the Chinese President was filed by one Sudhir Kumar Ojha who had previously sought to slap a sedition case against Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. He wanted Khan to be tried for waging a war against India and his speech at the UNGA. A serial litigant, Ojha is known for dragging multiple celebrities to court over issues as diverse as obscenity in Bollywood movies and junk food ads. Recently, Ojha had filed a case against self-proclaimed ‘historian’ Ramchandra Guha, actor Konkana Sen Sharma, Shyam Benegal, and other 46 celebrities for writing a letter to PM Modi highlighting the rising intolerance in the country.

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In 2006, Ojha filed a complaint against MNS chief Raj Thackeray for calling Chhat festival as “drama”. Ojha claims that a warrant was issued against Raj Thackeray and he had to procure bail from the apex court. The matter is still in the Delhi High Court, he claims. In 2007, he filed a case against the makers of movie Dhoom 2 for promoting obscenity by the film through a kissing scene in the movie. Ojha had also filed a case against Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan in 2013 for encouraging consumption of Maggi which he termed was hazardous to health. The PIL was, however, rejected by the court. Another case was lodged by the serial litigant against former PM Manmohan Singh and former West Bengal CM Buddhadeb Bhattacharjee for their alleged remarks claiming that the Ram Setu between Tamil Nadu and Sri Lanka was a natural structure and not man-made.

Note: The earlier version of the report wrongly mentioned it as Muzaffarabad, Uttar Pradesh instead of Muzaffarpur, Bihar. The error is regretted.