SC stays criminal proceedings against Priya Varrier, director

Priya Prakash Varrier

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Wednesday came to actress Priya Prakash Varrier's rescue by staying criminal proceedings initiated against her in various states on grounds that the video of a song from her film allegedly hurt religious sentiments of the Muslim community.

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.

It 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.

Varrier, a B.Com student from a college in Kerala's Thrissur district, sought protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' from the movie was "offensive" and had "violated the religious sentiment of a particular community".

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