Chennai: Malayalam actress Priya Prakash Varrier, who became an overnight sensation post her famous wink in the song ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi‘ that went viral and attracted two FIRs for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, can finally breathe a sigh of relief as the Supreme Court today dismissed the cases.
In a sharp rebuke to the petitioners and Telangana government, Chief Justice of India, Justice Dipak Misra, said, “Somebody in a film sings a song and you have no other job but to file a case?”
The 18-year-old actress’s lawyers had approached the apex court seeking the quashing of the FIR registered in the Telangana and the criminal complaints in Maharashtra by Raza Academy and a group associated with Jan Jagran Samiti for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of Muslims.
In a letter to the Union Information and Broadcasting Minister Smriti Irani on 16 February, after the song went viral, Raza Academy sought a ban on Varrier’s song ‘Manikya Malaraya Poovi‘ from her debut movie ‘Oru Adaar Love’. The academy alleged that the Malayalam song insulted Prophet Mohammad and his wife.
But, upholding justice, the Supreme Court which heard the case today, said, “There was no malicious intent to hurt religious sentiments, hence, no offence is made out under Section 295A of IPC, as was alleged in the FIRs.”
The court added that the wink featured in the song can never be termed “blasphemous” and even in future no FIR can be lodged against the actress or those associated with the film Oru Adaar Love.
