A petition was filed in the
Allahabad High Court accusing
Bollywood superstar Amitabh
Bachchan of having made a
"derogatory" remark, "with
malicious intention", about a Holy book in a more than a
year-old episode of the TV quiz
show Kaun Banega Crorepati.
The petition was filed by Mudassir Ullah Khan, a resident
of Jhansi, who has taken
exception to the use of the
phrase "racha
gaya" (composed) in the
context of the Holy book by Bachchan in the episode aired
on 28.09.2011. The petitioner has sought to
make Bachchan, besides the
manager of Sony TV and the
'Karyakram
Prayojak' (programme sponsor)
of Kaun Banega Crorepati a party in the case. Khan has contended the Holy
book was "neither written nor
created by anybody, rather it
came into existence/revealed
by Allah (God) Himself" and
hence the use of the phrase "racha gaya" was tantamount
to "a serious offence" as
Bachchan was a "popular
figure" and "words used by
him affect all communities". Khan has also challenged
orders of Chief Judicial
Magistrate and District and
Sessions Judge of Jhansi, dated
29.11.2011 and 21.5.2012
respectively, whereby his pleas for directing the police to
register an FIR under Indian
Penal Code sections dealing
with hurt caused to religious
sentiments were turned down. Khan has also submitted that
while the CJM had dismissed his
complaint "illegally and
without application of mind",
the District Judge turned down
his subsequent criminal revision terming it as "frivolous
and vexatious" besides
submitting that no objection
was raised by any "school,
institution or the
Mohammadan community" nor was there any "fatwa" issued
against Amitabh Bachchan. The petition is likely to come
up for hearing before a Bench
next week.
Amitabh Bachchan in legal trouble over Quran remark - Hindustan Times
One can enjoy such degree of nonsense freedom only in India and still our neighbours cry hoarse about infringement of minority rights.