The video, titled ‘Jeeju’, was released in December 2017 — it has notched up more than 24 million views on YouTube. Miss Pooja is in Australia at present. (Representational photo)
Nangal Police in Punjab’s Rupnagar district on Friday registered an FIR against Punjabi singer Miss Pooja, among others, for allegedly hurting feelings of the Hindu community by showing Yamraj, the God of Death, in an inebriated state in a recent music video.
The FIR comes a day after rural court judge Sachhal Babbar ordered Nangal Police to register a case on the basis of a complaint by Sandeep Kaushal, an advocate.
The FIR – filed under IPC Sections 295-A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings), 499 (defamation) and 500 — also names Harish Verma, who enacted the role of Yamraj in the video; Bidowale Frame Singh, a video production firm; and Speed Record Musical Company.
The video, titled ‘Jeeju’, was released in December 2017 — it has notched up more than 24 million views on YouTube. Miss Pooja is in Australia at present.
The video shows Miss Pooja playing the role of wife to the character enacted by Verma, who is shown as a drunkard. According to the complainant, the video shows Verma carrying a “gada” (mace) and imagined by the woman as Yama.
In his complaint before the court, Kaushal stated, “Accused Number 1 (Miss Pooja) accepted herself in starting of the song that her husband looks like Yamraj after consuming liquor. Neither Vedas or the Puranas, nor other religious books – oral or written – show that Yamraj consumes liquor, nor has the same has been heard by the complainant (Kaushal himself) and others from their ancestors.”
The complainant stated that intentions of the accused were to “play with hearts of Hindu people, to hurt their feelings, and insult Hindu religion”. He added Yamraj is a Hindu God and is “respectable, sacred and honourable”.
On Friday, Kaushal told The Indian Express, “I filed a criminal complaint in court because the video has hurt religious feelings of Hindus by portraying Yamraj as a drunkard. I want stern legal action against the singer, the actor and all those who made…this video.”
‘Cornucopia of the brief gamut of fact’
In his four-page order, civil judge Sachal Babbar noted, “The cornucopia of the brief gamut of fact demystified, demythologized, accentuated and encapsulated are that the complainant is an Advocate by profession and has a good reputation and respect in the society… I have affirmatively accentuated my predisposition towards the contemplated facts through the vociferous and vituperative pontifications of the complainant, facts encapsulated, and arguments put forth”. The order states, “Facts demystified and demythologised substantiate on a prima facie proposition that offences alleged as such by the complainant have been actually committed by the accused…. As such, for the investigation, the FIR is to be registered for further investigation.” — ENS