A clip from the song, featuring Priya Prakash Varrier, has gone viral on social media.New Delhi: Malayalam actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who recently became an Internet sensation for her wink in a song of a Malyalam movie, has moved the Supreme Court seeking annulment of an FIR registered against her on a complaint over the song.
Priya, in her petition, sought to annul the case registered by the Telangana police, based on a complaint that said the song hurts the religious sentiments of Muslims. The 18-year-old actress also sought the top court's direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her.
In her plea, Varrier, a B.Com student of Vimala College in Thrissur, sought protection from an FIR lodged against her on February 14 at Falaknama police station at Hyderabad on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from the movie Oru Addar Love was "offensive" or has "violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".
She said that on the same day, a criminal complaint was also filed by the secretary of Raza Academy, Mumbai, with the commissioner of police to take appropriate action against the petitioners, taking down the video and prevent it from being broadcast.
"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," she said in her plea filed through advocate Pallavi Pratap.
She said the entire controversy has resulted in the filing of several criminal complaints, while the FIR arises from the lyrics of the song, which is a Mappila song or a traditional Muslim number from the Malabar region of Kerala.
"The song describes and praises the love between Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. It should be important to note that the song is originally from an old folk song from Kerala which was written in 1978 by PMA Jabbar and first sung by Thalassery Rafeeq, in the praise of the Prophet and his wife Beevi Khadija," she said.
The plea 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."
"It is submitted that a song, which .... has been cherished by more than one crore Muslim population of Kerala, cannot suddenly offend the religious sentiment of the Muslim community," the plea said.
She said the movie is yet to be completed and an amount of Rs. 1.5 crore have been spent on it but such "flimsy and baseless" complaints and FIRs cause 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 process of law.
Meanwhile, the film's director Omar Lulu has also move the top court. The Telangana police had earlier issued a notice to Lulu, seeking his reply in a case lodged against him for 'hurting religious sentiments'. The case was registered at the Falaknuma police station in Hyderabad.
Lulu claimed the song had no objectionable reference and that Muslims in a part of Kerala had been singing it for over four decades.
Police registered a case against Omar Lulu on February 14 under section 295A of the IPC (hurting religious sentiments). Police had earlier said they would also consult Muslim clerics for the purpose of probe.
On February 15, city-based Islamic seminary Jamia Nizamiahad demanded that the government remove the song.
