Giving a big relief to actor Rajkumar Rao, the Punjab and Haryana High Court has stayed the lower court proceedings against him. This case is related to the FIR registered in the year 2017, in which religious sentiments were alleged to be hurt through the film Behan Hogi Teri.
The case was registered on 19 April 2017 in Jalandhar on the complaint of Ishant Sharma. The complaint alleged that Lord Shiva has been shown in a cartoonish and insulting manner in the film.
Rajkumar Rao played the character of Lord Shiva in the film, which was termed objectionable and claimed to hurt the religious sentiments of the Hindus. Rajkumar Rao argued on behalf of the actor that the allegations are baseless and it is a misuse of the process. He said that the film was duly approved by the Central Board of Film Certification.
The CBFC did not find any scene objectionable after a thorough investigation. At the same time, the Punjab government opposed the petition. The state parties said that the comical portrayal of Lord Shiva in the film undoubtedly hurts the sentiments of a large number of Hindus. Therefore, this case is a crime of hurting religious sentiments. After hearing both parties, the bench of Justice Yashveer Singh Rathore stayed the proceedings of the trial court and fixed the next date of hearing of the case on December 10.