Muzaffarpur:  An FIR has been lodged against 49 people by the Muzaffarpur Police for sending an open letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi raising their concern about mob lynching involving 'Jai Shri Ram' chants. The 49 people include Mani Ratnam, Aparna Sen, Shyam Benegal, Soumitro Chatterjee, Revathy, and Anurag Kashyap, vocalist Shubha Mudgal, social activist Binayak Sen, sociologist Ashis Nandy and author Amit Chaudhury, among others. 

The 49 celebrities, social activists and academicians in the letter to PM Modi wrote their concerns on increasing cases of lynching against Muslims and religious hate crimes in the name of Jai Shri Ram across the nation.  

Also read: Jai Shri Ram crimes hit headlines; Keralite writes to PM emphasising mob lynching cases against Hindu

The Muzaffarpur chief judicial magistrate passed the order to lodge FIR against these 49 persons after a lawyer Sudhir K Ojha filed a petition in the court.   Reports suggest the FIR has been lodged under sections of the IPC relating to sedition and hurting religious sentiments.

Meanwhile, Sudhir K Ojha told the reporters that 49 persons who wrote the letter had been named as accused in the FIR allegedly for tarnishing the country's image by writing such an open letter.