FIR Against Raveena Tandon, Farah Khan, Bharti Singh Over "Backbenchers" Show: High Court Directs Punjab Police To Not Take Coercive Steps
The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Wednesday directed the Punjab Police to not take any coercive steps against Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, filmmaker Farah Khan, comedian Bharti Singh, Screen Player, Writer Abbas Aziz Dalal & Frames Production in connection with a FIR lodged against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a web show titled as 'Backbenchers'...
The Punjab & Haryana High Court on Wednesday directed the Punjab Police to not take any coercive steps against Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, filmmaker Farah Khan, comedian Bharti Singh, Screen Player, Writer Abbas Aziz Dalal & Frames Production in connection with a FIR lodged against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments during a web show titled as 'Backbenchers' released by Flipkart.
The direction was passed on their plea seeking quashing of the FIR registered u/s 295A of IPC.
It was alleged in the FIR that the petitioners had hurt the religious sentiments of the Christian community by comparing the word "Hallelujah" with a vulgar word & had disrespected the said word.
The bench of Justice Karamjit Singh in their order said, "Notice of motion for 5.12.2022. Till then, no coercive steps shall be taken against the petitioners."
Appearing for the petitioners, Advocate Abhinav Sood contended that from the contents of FIR, none of the ingredients pertaining to offence under Section 295-A IPC was made out. It was also his contention that the allegations made by Mr Peter Masih were vague and general in nature with the ulterior motive to fasten the criminal liability on the petitioners.
Sood further argued that the petitioners' statements could not be perceived to be disrespectful or hurtful to the sentiments of the Christians or do not remotely qualify to constitute the offence under Section 295-A IPC. Relying on the Top Court's judgement in Ramji Lal v. State of U.P., AIR 1957 SC 620 and Bhagwati Charan Shukla v. Provincial Government, AIR 1947 Nag 1 he further contended that the FIR has been concocted on non-existent facts.
Jaspreet Kaur, AAG, Punjab accepted notice on behalf of State.
The quashing petition was filed through Advocates Abhinav Sood, Gaurav Girish Shukla, Anmol Gupta & Dhruv Chowfla.
Case Title: Raveena Tandon & Ors v State of Punjab & Ors| CRM M 44189 of 2021