The Honourable Supreme Court did the appropriate job today by quashing an FIR filed against actor Priya Prakash Varrier, and the director and producer of Malayalam movie. The FIR filed on Priya Prakash Varrier and the producers of the movie ‘Oru Adaar Love’ had been filed stating that a song video from the movie had hurt the religious sentiments of the people from the Muslim community. The SC bench headed by Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud quashed the FIR stating that the Malayalam folk song on which the song was picturised had been in public domain since the late 1970s and hence it could not be termed blasphemous. A segment of video of the song from the movie had become popular as the wink song, and had been widely circulated online.
The first FIR against the 18 year old actor had been filed at the Falaknama police station in Hyderabad on February 14th, a couple of days after the clip came out on the internet. The song in question has actually been written, sung and cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala for over 40 years. The first version of the song “Manikya Malaraya Poovi” was written by a Muslim P M A Jabbar himself many years back, the one used in Priya’s movie was a stylised version of the old song. The song describes the qualities of Khadeeja Biwi or Khadija bint Khuwaylid who was the first wife of Prophet Muhammad. It is in reality a traditional Muslim song genre of north Kerala and has Arabic words in it along with Persian and Hindi, usually sung at auspicious occasions the song has many renditions which exist freely on the internet. Priya Prakash Varrier and the directors and producers of the movie had cited the same reasons asking the SC to withdraw the FIR filed against them. The plea filed by people related to the film also stated delay in releasing the movie and subsequent losses owing to the FIR being lodged.
The SC bench while quashing the FIR said, “We allow the writ petition of Varrier and others and quash the FIR lodged against them in Telangana and further direct no FIR or any complaint under Section 200 of CrPC will be entertained against the petitioners for picturisation of the song in question,” The SC had earlier put a stay on all criminal proceedings against the people named in the FIR on February 21. The bench also referred to a similar case filed against former Indian cricket team captain M S Dhoni to state that there was no offence committed by Priya Prakash Varrier and the makers of the movie which come under Section 295 A of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). Section 295 A of the IPC deals with deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings or any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs.
The wink song and the video from the Malayalam movie had been harmless entertainment but some fringe elements had attacked the actor and the movie makers nonetheless. It is surprising how easy it has become to term any act today as a threat to the sentiments of the minority in India, so much so that a movie maker and his creation can be held guilty of using something which was already in vogue in the public sphere.