E-Paper
Punjab: ‘Obscenity’ in song lyrics: Lok Adalat quashes FIR against Honey Singh
The FIR was registered at Mataur police station in 2019 and Sections 294 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, and Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act were slapped
The National Lok Adalat in Mohali on Wednesday quashed the FIR registered against rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh (Hardesh Singh Aulakh) after accepting the police closure report in a six-year-old case concerning alleged obscene and derogatory lyrics in his 2018 song (Makhna).
The FIR was registered at Mataur police station in 2019 and Sections 294 and 509 of the Indian Penal Code, Section 67 of the Information Technology Act, and Section 6 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act were slapped. The complaint was based on statements given by ASI Lakhwinder Kaur and Manisha Gulati, the then chairperson of the Punjab State Women’s Commission.
During the hearing, both complainants informed the court that they had no objection to the case being dismissed. The police, in its closure report, highlighted that the song had already been cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on December 27, 2018, and that no specific woman was named or targeted in the lyrics. Accepting the closure report, presiding officer Anish Goyal ordered the FIR to be quashed.
The case had sparked widespread debate in 2019 over the impact of the song lyrics on society, with the Punjab Women’s Commission even recommending a ban on the track, citing objectionable content.
