Singer arrested over controversial song

Bhojpuri singer Varun Upadhyaya alias Varun Bahar, whose song 'jo na bole jai shriram, usko behjo kabristan' (send those who do not chant Jai Shriram to graveyard) triggered a huge controversy, was on Friday arrested by the police on charges of inciting hatred between communities.

According to the sources here, Bahar was arrested by a special police team from Gonda district, about 200 kilometers from here, in the state in wee hours.

Dozens of cases have been lodged in different police stations in several states in the country against the singer, sources said. A few acquaintances of Bahar were also arrested and were being questioned.

''The songwriter and the person, who had uploaded the song on the YouTube, have also been apprehended,'' a senior police official here said.

Sources said that Bahar and others had been charged with sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc) and 298 (uttering words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person).

The controversial song has gone viral on the social networking sites inviting reactions from all over the country.

A section of the society and the Muslim leaders have taken strong exception to the song and demanded its immediate removal from the YouTube channel and other sites and action against the singer.

The singer, however, sought to justify the words in the songs. ''I have not referred to any particular religion... there is nothing objectionable in the song,'' he claimed.