Bilaspur: The Chhattisgarh High Court has issued a notice to Hindi film actor Aamir Khan over his alleged remark about rising intolerance in the country in 2015.

The court Monday also issued a notice to the Chhattisgarh government in this regard on a petition filed by Dipak Diwan.

Diwan’s lawyer Amiyakant Tiwari said he had filed a complaint before a Magistrate at Raipur against Khan over the actor’s alleged statement that intolerance was growing and his wife Kiran Rao had even asked if they should move out of India.

Diwan sought registration of a complaint under IPC sections 153 (A) (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, etc) and 153 (B) (imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration).

But the application was rejected on the ground that no sanction under section 196(1)(a) of the Code of Criminal Procedure (CrPC) was obtained, the lawyer said.

Government’s permission is required for prosecuting offences such as the one described by section 153 (A). The complainant then approached the sessions court which too rejected his petition, so he moved the high court.

“It appears from the record that the Magistrate without recording any finding as to whether case for taking cognizance is made out or not, straightway rejected the complaint for want of sanction under Section 196(1)(a) of the CrPC. In view of that, the petition deserves to be admitted,” the high court said.

Justice Sanjay K Agrawal issued notices to Khan and the state government and posted the matter for next hearing April 17.

PTI