The Punjab police have registered a case against director Bhushan Kumar, producers Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru and actor Meezaan Jafri on the charges of hurting religious sentiments after a song in the upcoming movie ‘Yaariyan-2’ allegedly shows the actor wearing a ‘kirpan’.
The FIR was registered in Jalandhar district on the complaint of a member of the Sikh Talmel Committee, Sub-Inspector Ashok Kumar said on Thursday, August 31. The case was registered on August 30 night.
Police said the FIR had been registered under Section 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs) of the IPC.
According to a complaint lodged by Harpreet Singh, a member of the committee, the actor was seen allegedly wearing a ‘kirpan’ — a symbol of Sikh faith — in a song in the movie.
The complainant said this had hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community as only a baptised Sikh can wear the ‘kirpan’ as per the Sikh Code of Conduct.
The SGPC, the apex religious body of the Sikhs, has already taken strong objection to the actor allegedly wearing the ‘kirpan’ in the song — ‘Saure ghar’ — from the film.
The SGPC has also filed a complaint with the Amritsar Police Commissioner.
Though the film’s directors had claimed that the actor was wearing a ‘khukri’ (a curved knife) and not a ‘kirpan’ and that they have no intention to offend or disrespect any religious beliefs, the SGPC had said “we are not satisfied with your illogical clarification”.
Reacting to the clarification of the film directors, the SGPC had said, “The Sikhs very well know the shape of a ‘kirpan’ and a ‘khukri’, and the way both are worn on one’s body. We are not satisfied with your illogical clarification. Therefore, we are initiating the process of legal action in this case, as the concerned video song is still in public view and continuously hurting religious sentiments of Sikh community.”