Bollywood actress Raveena Tandon, producer-director Farah Khan and comedian Bharti Singh have been booked by the Amritsar Rural police for allegedly hurting the religious sentiments of the Christian community by using the word “Hallelujah” on a web show. According to the reports, the Amritsar police have received a complaint and a video of the show from Sona Masih, also known as Sonu Jafar, general secretary of the Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee and President of the Christian Samaj Front.
In her complaint, Sonu Jafar has alleged three B-Town actors including Raveena Tandon made a mockery of the pious word “Hallelujah (word of praise to God)” in a programme called ‘Backbenchers’.
“Hallelujah” is a Hebrew word meaning “Praise ye, Yah”, referring to the Christian Lord.
Sonu Jafar received the video from Dhariwal Sonu Stephan, in which they were allegedly seen “making fun” of the word from the Bible. “This has hurt the sentiments of the Christian community and we sought stringent action against them,” he said.
In the show ‘Backbenchers’, comedian Bharti Singh, who seems to have no idea about the existence of such a word “Hallelujah”, was asked to spell and explain the meaning of the word by show host Farah Khan. However, Bharti Singh, who wrongly spelt the world, added her comic touch while explaining the meaning of the word ‘Hallelujah” perhaps not knowing that it had religious connotations.
Responding to allegations, Raveen Tandon on Friday clarified that she has not even uttered a word which can be interpreted as an insult to any religion. She also said that three of them including Farah Khan and Bharti Singh never intended to offend anyone.
Raveena Tandon said she would sincerely apologize to all those people who were hurt by the web show.
Please do watch this link. I haven’t said a word that can be interpreted as an insult to any religion. The three of us (Farah Khan, Bharti Singh and I) never intended to offend anyone, but in case we did, my most sincere apologies to those who were hurt. https://t.co/tT2IONqdKI
— Raveena Tandon (@TandonRaveena) December 26, 2019
Senior Superintendent of Police Vikram Jeet Duggal confirmed that a case under Section 295-A of the Indian Penal Code had been registered at Ajnala police station in Amritsar district on Wednesday. A case has been registered against all six persons.
