Amitabh Bachchan in legal trouble over Quran remark

A petition was filed in the Allahabad High Court accusing Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan of having made a "derogatory" remark, "with malicious intention", about a Holy book in a more than a year-old episode of the TV quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati.

A petition was filed in the Allahabad High Court accusing Bollywood superstar Amitabh Bachchan of having made a "derogatory" remark, "with malicious intention", about a Holy book in a more than a year-old episode of the TV quiz show Kaun Banega Crorepati.

Amitabh-Bachchan

The petition was filed by Mudassir Ullah Khan, a resident of Jhansi, who has taken exception to the use of the phrase "racha gaya" (composed) in the context of the Holy book by Bachchan in the episode aired on 28.09.2011.

The petitioner has sought to make Bachchan, besides the manager of Sony TV and the 'Karyakram Prayojak' (programme sponsor) of Kaun Banega Crorepati a party in the case.

Khan has contended the Holy book was "neither written nor created by anybody, rather it came into existence/revealed by Allah (God) Himself" and hence the use of the phrase "racha gaya" was tantamount to "a serious offence" as Bachchan was a "popular figure" and "words used by him affect all communities".

Khan has also challenged orders of Chief Judicial Magistrate and District and Sessions Judge of Jhansi, dated 29.11.2011 and 21.5.2012 respectively, whereby his pleas for directing the police to register an FIR under Indian Penal Code sections dealing with hurt caused to religious sentiments were turned down.

The petition is likely to come up for hearing before a Bench next week.