NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday put a stay on criminal proceedings against actress Priya Prakash Varrrier.Earlier this week, the actress had sought the apex court's intervention in multiple criminal complaints that were filed against her. The FIR mentioned that she had hurt 'religious sentiments' with her winsome wink in a song sequence from the Malayalam movie 'Oru Adaar Love'. A bench comprising Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud also extended similar relief to director of the Malayalam movie 'Oru Addar Love'. Besides staying existing criminal proceedings, the bench restrained all state governments from registering any further FIR against the actress and the director with regard to the promotional video.
There were complaints being filed against her in Hyderabad and Maharashtra for the song in her debut Malayalam movie after it went viral.
The SC also issued notice to the Telangana government and others on a petition from 18-year-old Varrier, who shot into the limelight after her 'wink video' went viral on internet.
Defense lawyers Harris Beeran and Pallavi Pratap maintained that the movie had only used a cover version of a traditional folk song that praised the love between Prophet Mohammed and his wife, popular in Kerala’s Malabar area and hence did not hurt anyone’s religious sentiments. The petition said that the folk song had existed for centuries and was not disrespectful to Muslim sentiments.