Chandigarh: The Punjab Police have issued a notice to the director, producers and an actor of Bollywood film ‘Yaariyan 2’ to join investigation by 13 September in a sacrilege case registered against them.
Two separate FIRs have been lodged in Jalandhar and Amritsar against actor Meezan Jafri, directors Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, and producer Bhushan Kumar for hurting the sentiments of the Sikh community by allegedly inappropriately using the kirpan, a sacred symbol of Sikh faith, in the film.
The first case registered under Section 295-A of the IPC was lodged in division number 4 police station in Jalandhar on August 30 on a complaint by Harpreet Singh Neetu, an activist and member of the Sikh Taalmel Committee, Jalandhar. A team of the Jalandhar police had gone to Mumbai last week to issue notices to the accused.
The other FIR was also registered under the same IPC section on 1 September in Amritsar on the complaint of the Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC). Section 295-A provides for action against deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
Produced by T-Series, Yaariyan 2 is expected to be released in October. Its song ‘Saure Ghare’ released on the YouTube channel of T-Series last month has run into controversy. The song features Jafri wearing a gatra (a special strap used to hold the kirpan) with a ‘kirpan’ attached to it.
A kirpan is one the five sacred symbols (kakaars) that every baptised Sikh is expected to carry. According to the Sikh code of conduct, a non-baptised Sikh, or a non-Sikh cannot carry a kirpan.
The SGPC was the first to raise objections to the song showing a clean shaven, non-turbaned actor supporting a ‘kirpan’. The film directors had, however, claimed that what the SGPC is claiming to be a ‘kirpan’ is actually a ‘khukri’.
Not impressed with the logic forwarded by the film directors, the SGPC went ahead and gave a complaint to the police against the filmmakers and the actor.
In the meanwhile, the filmmakers have removed the ‘kirpan’ from the song which has already clocked 20 million views on YouTube.
Talking to ThePrint, SHO Ashok Kumar of Jalandhar division number 4 police station said that his team had visited Mumbai to ensure that the notices are received by the accused. He said that the notices are dated 6 September and a 7-day period was given for the film team to join the investigation at the police station.
Neetu, the complainant in the case, told ThePrint that although the filmmakers had tried to explain their position by saying that the dagger looking object in the song is a khukri, the explanation is not acceptable.
“After the objections raised by the Sikh community, the filmmakers have removed the kirpan from the visuals of the song, but according to our information there are in several scenes in the film with the kirpan. Apart from the complaint that we have given to the police, our committee will also object to the release of the film in Punjab,” he said.
He added that in case the filmmakers and the actor applied for pre-arrest bail in the Jalandhar court, they would oppose it.
Meanwhile, the Amritsar police will also be issuing notices to the accused in this case. Talking to ThePrint, Additional Commissioner of Police Amritsar Surinder Singh said that the notices would be sent by post.
(Edited by Tony Rai)