In a big relief for actress Raveena Tandon, director-choreographer Farah Khan and comedienne Bharti Singh of The Kapil Sharma Show, The Punjab and Haryana High Court has directed the state government to not take any ‘coercive steps’ against the three celebrities. This was after multiple police complaints were filed against the three stars for hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community.
According to news agency PTI, Justice Sudip Ahluwalia fixed the matter for further hearing on 25 March while issuing a notice to the Punjab government.
Recently, a man in Maharashtra had demanded the immediate arrest of Bharti, Raveena and Farah for hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community. Ashish Shinde had written to the Director-General of Police of Maharashtra demanding the arrest of the Bollywood actress, dance-director and the famous comedienne.
Bharti, Farah and Raveena were accused of hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community in a TV show called Backbenchers. Bharti had wrongly spelt Hallelujah.
The first police complaint against the three entertainment celebrities was filed by one Sonu Jafar in Amritsar of Punjab. Two more police cases were registered later in the state’s Ferozpur and Rupnagar districts. Another FIR was filed in Maharashtra’s Beed district. Angry Christians had also staged protests in some places in Punjab and Jammu. Bharti’s lawyer has argued that the FIR against his client was illegal, ex-facie bad in law and needed to be quashed.
Farah, Raveena and Bharti of The Kapil Sharma Show had issued public apologies for hurting religious sentiments of the community seeking forgiveness.