Case against 'Yaariyan-2' producer, actor for hurting religious sentiments

The Punjab Police has 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.

The case was registered on Wednesday night.

Police said the FIR has 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 Indian Penal Code.

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 has 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 Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) has also filed a complaint with the Amritsar Police Commissioner in this regard.

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.”

“The khukri is worn like a pistol on a belt by a person (mostly Gorkha soldiers) authorised to do so, and similarly, the Sikh kirpan is worn on a 'Gatra' (belt) like the actor has done in your Saure Ghar video song. Only initiated Sikhs are authorised to wear kirpan as per mandate of 'Sikh Rehat Maryada' (code of conduct) of Akal Takht Sahib and the right under the Constitution of India,” the SGPC had said.