A day after he was caught on camera kissing a minor girl, singer Papon has quit the reality TV show as its judge saying that he had been false implicated.
“Since I am in no mental state to fulfil most of my professional obligations, I have decided to step down as a judge on the show till the matter in which I have been falsely implicated is fully resolved and the investigations are over,” the 41-year-old singer from Assam said in a tweet.
— papon angaraag (@paponmusic) February 24, 2018
On Saturday, the Guwahati police lodged a case against Papon after a complaint from the Assam State Commission for Protection of Child Rights.
“The alleged accused person will be called and he will be interrogated. Lawful action will be taken” Moneesh Mishra, Deputy Commissioner of Police, East, Guwahati was quoted by NDTV.
Papon has been facing condemnation for forcing upon a female child during a Facebook Live. A Delhi-based lawyer has even filed a case against the 41-year-old singer, who’s a judge on &TV’s popular reality show, Voice India Kids.
Papon was caught smearing Holi colours on and grabbing the 11-year-old female contestant from the reality show to plant a kiss on her lips. The singer’s lawyer has denied any inappropriate act by Papon, while the girl’s parents too have sided with him calling it a display of affection by a guru towards his shishya (pupil).
However, this hasn’t prevented social media users from condemning Papon with many even asking him to be booked under POCSO Act. Many had taken to Twitter to remind what filmmaker Shoojit Sircar had suggested last year. Sircar had demanded a ban on any reality shows involving children since it destroyed them ’emotionally & their purity.’
Faced with condemnation, Papon took to Facebook to issue a statement. He wrote, “I am very painfully conscious of the accusations that have been made against me in the last few days. Anyone who knows me would be aware that I am an extremely affectionate and expressive person. That is the way I have been brought up and that’s how I have always been with people close to me or people I care about. To show affection for an 11 year old child who I have been mentoring for a while now is not an alien concept for me. Please do remember that it a video on my own facebook live and stop for a moment and at least wonder why I would myself promote a video where I am ‘apparently’ doing all the unmentionable things that I am being accused of.