Atrocity FIR filed against the late Tarak Mehta

AHMEDABAD: Nearly three years after his death, the famous Gujarati writer Tarak Mehta has been named as an accused in an FIR under the Scheduled Caste/Scheduled Tribe (Prevention of Atrocities) Act filed at Nikol police station in the city, for allegedly using a casteist slur in a Gujarati play titled ‘Ek Murakh Ne Evi Tev’.
In his FIR, Rashmikant Parmar, 33, a trader of machine tools in Kathwada, stated that he had on July 22, 2019 seen the play on a YouTube channel.
“The play, ‘Ek murakh ne evi tev’, has been written by Tarak Mehta, directed by Bharat Shroff and features artists including Mukesh Raval, Santu Rajda, Manish Mehta, Chirag Acharya, Vimal Upadhyay, Jitu Mehta and Anuradha Kanabar,” states Parmar in the FIR.
The play was produced by Rangat Productions and obtained a certificate for broadcast from the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), it adds.
“Two minutes and thirteen seconds into the play, actress Anuradha Kanabar delivers a dialogue in which derogatory words are spoken against our caste. Due to this, the dialogue hurts the sentiments of my caste,” Parmar stated.
The writer, columnist, playwright and humorist Tarak Mehta died on March 1, 2017 at his home in Ambawadi in the city at the age of 87. He was also known for the popular Gujarati column ‘Duniya Ne Undha Chashma’. In 2015, he was awarded the Padma Shri for his work.
In his FIR, Parmar said that he had first filed the application of complaint in July 2019, but it took five months to register the FIR. “The FIR was registered only after I met various top police officers, including DCP Zone 5, under whose jurisdiction Nikol police station falls,” said Parmar.
DCP Zone 5, Ravi Teja Vasamsetty said that police would file a C (closure) summary as the accused is dead. “We have also inquired and found that Tarak Mehta has died but as the plea was pending for long, we filed the FIR. We will remove the name of Tarak Mehta during the course of our investigation,” said Vasamsetty.
Apart from Tarak Mehta, eight artists and an unknown member of the CBFC has also been booked under the Atrocities Act.