Singer Yo Yo Honey Singh on Thursday told the Delhi High Court that he did not perform the controversial song “Volume 1” during a 2025 concert in Delhi, after the court ordered the song to be removed from all platforms over its vulgar and misogynistic lyrics.
A bench of Justice Puruchindra Kumar Kaurav directed the singer to file an affidavit to record his stand while hearing a petition filed by the Hindu Shakti Dal, which sought removal of the song from the internet.
The song was uploaded on YouTube by different users under different handles, where it received millions of views, the Hindu Shakti Dal said in its petition. The petition also claimed that over the years, Honey Singh and Badshah have denied performing the song. However, she claimed that verses from the song were performed during a concert in Delhi on March 1 at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium.
Singh’s lawyer, Rajshekar Rao, told the court on Thursday that his client had not performed the song at a concert in Delhi in March last year.
“This stigma has to go. This is not for me. Such an event happened, and I did not sing. In today’s world, I ask myself a question: If something like this happens in a stadium with more than 50,000 spectators, there should be one audio or one video clip of this,” Rao said.
After taking cognizance of the application, Justice Kaurav directed the singer to file an affidavit to record his statement so that the court can decide the matter in controversy.
“Respondent 5 (Honey Singh) is directed to file his affidavit setting out the position that no such incident as alleged occurred on 1 March 2025 and allow all such aspects to be placed in the affidavit to decide the controversy,” the court said in its order as it fixed May 19 as the date of the next hearing.
The controversial song was released by the singers in 2006-2007 under their collaboration titled Mafia Mundeer.
The Delhi High Commission in April ordered the immediate removal of the two-decade-old song “Volume 1” by singers Honey Singh and Badshah, stating that it was “extremely vulgar,” “obscene,” “degrading toward women,” and aimed to “normalize the treatment of women as objects of ridicule and sexual gratification.”
The court said that allowing such content to be published online, including access by minors, could not be justified under the guise of artistic freedom of expression. It directed the singers and any other people claiming their rights to the song to delete it from all social media platforms.
