Singer Angarag Papon Mahanta landed in deep trouble on Friday after a video showing him kissing “inappropriately” a minor girl — a contestant of a television reality show — went viral. A Supreme Court lawyer Runa Bhuyan slapped a case against him under POCSO Act with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR).

Angarag, whose stage-name is Papon, is a judge and mentor on The Voice India Kids that is aired on &TV.

The other judges and mentors in the popular show are Shaan, Himmesh Reshammiya and Palak Muchhal.

Trouble broke out after Papon went live on his Facebook page on Tuesday. After rendering a Holi song “Rang Barse...”, Papon goes towards the girl, smears colour on the contestant girl’s face and kisses her. In the video, he is also seen asking the person recording live to cut it off.

In a complaint lodged with the NCPCR under the POCSO Act, the SC lawyer stated among other things, “I am shocked to see the behaviour of the said singer Angarag Papon Mahanta towards a minor girl where he is seen to be applying colours on the girl and inappropriately kissing her.”

“On seeing the video, I am seriously concerned regarding the safety and security of the minor girls participating in reality shows across India,” her complaint stated. She also called for framing of guidelines to protect children from “such assaults” in reality shows.

However, the affected contestant’s father came to the defence of Papon, saying that the singer was his daughter’s mentor and like a “father figure” to her requesting the media “not to pursue this further”.

“He has always encouraged her to pursue her dreams. He doesn’t differentiate among the children. What you saw in the video was not intentional. It was just a moment of affection that is being portrayed otherwise,” he said.

In a statement issued, an apparently rattled Papon defended himself saying that given that he an “extremely affectionate and expressive” person, showing affection to a girl whom was mentoring for awhile now was an alien concept to me. “To show affection for an 11-year-old child who I have been mentoring for a while now is not an alien concept for me,” Papon said.

“I have a loving wife of over 14 years and two young children. There is a little girl involved, whose identity is not masked in any way. Both our families are being destroyed forever, just by people jumping to conclusions,” Papon stated.

“My family stands by me in this tough time where I feel I am victimised for no fault of mine,” the singer added.

“It is not a kiss, but a peck,” Papon’s lawyer Gaurang Kanth said, defending his client.

Papon is popular for his numbers like “Labon ka karobar” in film Befikre (2016), “Bulleya” for the film Sultan (2016), “Moh moh ke dhage” for the film Dum Laga Ke Haisha (2015), “Humnava” in Hamari Adhuri Kahani (2015), “Lakeerein”, which is a poem by Gulzar, for the film Kya Dilli Kya Lahore (2014) and “Sun ri Bavli” for Nagesh Kukunoor’s film Lakshmi (2014).

Meanwhile, &TV, the Hindi entertainment channel on which “The Voice India Kids” gets aired, said in a statement said, “As a responsible channel, we are extending complete support to all parties who are impacted by this incident and will stand by them to help them through this situation”.