SC quashes FIR against wink queen Priya Varrier
The court ruled that the accusations made in the FIR by complainants from Hyderabad were baseless.
The court ruled that the accusations made in the FIR by complainants from Hyderabad were baseless.
The court ruled that the accusations made in the FIR by complainants from Hyderabad were baseless.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court Friday quashed all proceedings against Malayalam actor and internet sensation Priya Prakash Varrier who shot into limelight with her viral wink video.
The apex court had in February stayed all criminal proceedings against her in a case filed from Hyderabad on the grounds that a song from her film 'Oru Adaar Love' allegedly hurt religious sentiments of the Muslim community. The court had also restrained all state governments from registering any further FIRs against the actress and the director with regard to the promotional video.
Baseless matters: SC
The SC, which quashed the first information report (FIR), also set aside all charges levelled against the director of the movie, Omar Lulu, and the producer. The court, quashing the FIR, stated that the matters raised by the complainants were baseless.
The viral wink
The actress shot to instant fame after a small clip of her winking at a young man went viral. The video was part of a song 'Manikya Malaraya Poove,' which the complainants claimed had references to the Prophet's wife.
Varrier, a B Com student at Vimala College in Thrissur district, had sought protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song was 'offensive' and had 'violated the religious sentiment of a particular community.'
From Telangana to Mumbai
The actress had moved the apex court in February seeking to quash an FIR lodged against her in Telangana and sought the top court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.
She said the FIR was lodged against her on February 14 at Falaknuma police station in Hyderabad.
On the same day, the secretary of Raza Academy, Mumbai, filed a complaint with the commissioner of police seeking action against the petitioners and to take down the video and prevent its broadcast, she had said.
"The present petition was filed as a result of multiple criminal proceedings against the petitioners in the states of Telangana and Maharashtra. The complaint filed is against the song titled 'Manikya Malaraya Poove' which was released on YouTube.
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In Telangana, an FIR has already been registered against the director of the movie. The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-Malayalam speaking states as well," Priya had said in her plea filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap.
She said the entire controversy resulted in the filing of several criminal complaints, while the FIR arose from the lyrics of the song, which is a Mappila song from the Malabar region of Kerala.
The plea had said the claims that it hurt religious sentiments of the Muslim community are 'without any basis and what is hard to fathom is that a song which has been in existence for the past 40 years, which was written, sung and cherished by the Muslim community in Kerala is now being treated as an insult to the Prophet and his wife.'
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"It is submitted that a song, which has been cherished by more than one crore Muslim population of Kerala, cannot suddenly offend religious sentiments," it had said.
The plea had stated that criminal complaints and registration of FIRs in multiple states on the basis of complaints by 'fringe elements who have misunderstood the lyrics of the song which they claim allegedly offended their religious sentiments and that of their community has adversely affected the petitioner's right to life, liberty and freedom of expression under the Constitution.'
The plea had said the movie is yet to be completed and about Rs 1.5 crore have been spent on it but such 'flimsy and baseless' complaints and FIRs caused 'nothing but hindrance to freedom of speech and expression granted under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution' and was 'an outright abuse' of the legal process.
"Such acts only result in curbing the freedom expression of people and have also resulted in dragging Priya Varrier, who is a young college student, into a criminal case for merely acting in a movie," it had said.