Actor Ranveer Singh has moved the Karnataka High Court seeking quashing of the First Information Report (FIR) registered against him over statements he made during his appearance at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in November last year.
The actor’s lawyer Manu Prabhakar Kulkarni mentioned the petition before a bench of Justice M Nagaprasanna on Monday and requested an urgent hearing. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the petition on Tuesday.
Singh challenged the January 23 order of the Additional Chief Judicial Magistrate (ACJM) Bengaluru, directing the police to investigate a private complaint filed by a lawyer under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS) Act.
Following the court order, Higher Grounds police station in Bengaluru took Ranveer Singh into custody on charges of promoting enmity between religious groups, intentional acts intended to incite religious sentiments, and public mischief, under Sections 196, 299 and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS) Act.
The complaint relates to Singh’s reaction to Rishabh Shetty’s Kannada film, Al-Qantara: The Legend of Chapter 1And his remarks and imitation of a character from the film during his appearance at IFFI.
Singh later apologized for his remarks.
In his petition, Singh said his imitation of a character from the film was an “honest tribute” that had been wrongly given a “criminal colour”.
Singh had urged the Supreme Court to set aside the ACJM order and quash the private complaint culminating in the registration of the FIR. He also requested a temporary stay for further investigation into the case.
In his application to the Bengaluru court, complainant Prashant Mithal alleged that Singh had performed an act in which he imitated the sacred expressions and behaviors associated with Bangurli and Gulija Daeva, spiritual deities worshiped in the coastal state of Karnataka, “in a crude and humorous manner”. The complainant also claimed at the time that Singh referred to Daeva as a “female ghost” during the event, and that this behavior hurt the religious sentiments of devotees.
