Actor Ranveer Singh has moved the Karnataka high court seeking to quash a first information report (FIR) registered against him over remarks made during an appearance at the closing ceremony of the International Film Festival of India (IFFI) in Goa in November last year.
The actor’s lawyer Manu Prabhakar Kulkarni mentioned the petition before a bench of justice M Nagaprasanna on Monday and sought an urgent hearing. The high court agreed to hear the plea on Tuesday.
Singh has challenged a January 23 order by the additional chief judicial magistrate (ACJM) Bengaluru, directing the police to investigate a private complaint filed by an advocate under Section 175(3) of the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita (BNSS).
Following the court order, the High Grounds Police Station in Bengaluru booked Ranveer Singh for promoting enmity between religious groups, deliberate acts intended to outrage religious feelings, and public mischief, under sections 196, 299, and 302 of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita (BNS).
The complaint pertains to Singh’s reaction to Rishab Shetty’s Kannada film, Kantara: A Legend Chapter-1, and his remarks and mimicry of a character from the film during his appearance at IFFI.
Singh had subsequently apologised for his remarks.
In his petition, Singh said his mimicry of a character from the film was an “honest appreciation” that had wrongly been given a “criminal colour”.
Singh has urged the high court to set aside the ACJM’s order and quash the private complaint that culminated in the registration of the FIR. He has also sought an interim stay on further investigation in the case.
In his application to a Bengaluru court, complainant Prashant Methal claimed that Singh performed an act in which he mimicked the sacred expressions and mannerisms associated with Panjurli and Guliga Daiva, spiritual deities worshipped in coastal Karnataka, in a “crude and humorous way.” The complainant also claimed at the time that Singh referred to Daiva as a “female ghost” during the event, and that this conduct hurt the religious sentiments of devotees.