Bombay HC Quashes Complaint Against Singer Kailash Kher For 'Hurting Religious Sentiments' With ‘Babam Bam’ Song

The Bombay High Court last week dismissed a criminal case against singer Kailash Kher, which was filed in Ludhiana, Punjab, over allegations of offending religious sentiments through his song on Lord Shiva, Indian Express reported.

A bench of Justices Bharati H Dangre and Shyam C Chandak passed the order on Kher’s plea on 4 March, with the order becoming publicly available on Thursday (13 March).

Kher had moved the High Court in 2014 after the complaint was lodged in Ludhiana.

The High Court had granted him interim relief on 4 July 2014, barring Mumbai police from taking coercive action and staying any warrant issued by the Ludhiana court until further orders.

Kher’s lawyer, Advocate Ashok Saraogi, contended that his client was only the singer and had no role in the song’s choreography or picturisation, which were handled by the album’s producer and director.

He further stated that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had approved the video for “unrestricted public exhibition.”

Narinder Makkar, a resident of Ludhiana, had moved a local magistrate court, seeking registration of a case against Kher under IPC Sections 295A (deliberate and malicious acts intended to outrage religious feelings) and 298 (uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings).

Makkar, who said he was as a devotee of Lord Shiva, claimed that the music video of Kher’s song ‘Babam Bam’ displayed vulgarity.

The video showed scantily dressed women dancing with Kher and people kissing, and this hurt his religious feelings and emotions, the complainant said.

The court noted that the complainant did not allege that the lyrics sung by the petitioner had outraged his religious feelings.

“What is important to note in this whole scenario is the absence of the deliberate and malicious intention on part of the petitioner, who is just singing the song, and in any case he is not the producer of the album nor he has directed its filming/recording,” the court said.

The court further held, “Merely because he is singing the song being surrounded by a large number of people, who have independently performed the role assigned to them by the director, according to us the ingredients of Section 295 A of IPC are not made out”, Indian Express reported.

It also held that offence under Section 298 of the IPC was also not made out.

The high court noted that except for the filing of the complaint, no cause of action had arisen within the purview of the Ludhiana court and as the song was produced by a company in Mumbai, it had authority to entertain Kher’s plea.

The court added that “the song sung by petitioner and picturised on him was a musical piece sung in praise of Lord Shiva” and consisted of attributes of Lord Shiva’s “mighty character and nothing else”.

“More so every action which may be to the dislike of a class of people may not necessarily lead to outraging religious sentiments…,” it said while allowing the plea.

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