A court in Jamshedpur issued a non-bailable warrant against Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) chief Raj Thackeray for failing to appear before it in a case regarding his alleged derogatory remarks on 'chat festival'.

Hearing a petition, filed by a local lawyer Hameed Raza Khan, the court of First Class Judicial Magistrate A K Tiwari issued the non-bailable warrant against Thackeray for failing to appear in the court today.

Earlier, the court had issued a bailable warrant in connection with the case on June 19.

Khan had filed the petition in the court of Chief Judicial Magistrate P K Moitra against MNS chief in February in which he had alleged that Thackeray had made the remarks while addressing a public meeting at Mumbai on January 31.

Thackeray had described 'chat festival', observed by the people of Bihar in Mumbai, as farce, which led to a wide-spread agitation in the country including, Jharkhand and Bihar.

Accusing Thackeray of hurting the religious sentiments of a section of the society, Khan had filed the case under section 153 (rioting), 295A (a non-bailable section for hurting the religious sentiments) and 298 IPC.

Khan had further alleged that the MNS stand on North Indians as well as the 'chat festival' was a deliberate attempt to promote feelings of regionalism in the country.

The complainant had also produced newspaper clippings with regard to Thackeray's statement to substantiate his charges.