Criminal proceedings against Priya Prakash Varrier halted

In the wake of all the criminal complaints filed against actress Priya Prakash Varrier, she had moved the Supreme Court which has stayed all the criminal proceedings against her on Tuesday.

An FIR was first lodged against the actress in Telangana, who recently became an internet sensation for a song 'Manikya Malaraya Poovi' of a Malayalam movie 'Oru Addar Love'.

In her plea, the actress who is a student of B.Com from a college in Thrissur district of Kerala sought Supreme Court’s direction to prohibit states from initiating any criminal proceedings against her and also sought protection.

The FIR was lodged against her on February 14 at Falaknama police station in Hyderabad based on the complaints alleging that the song mentioned was ‘offensive’ and ‘violated the religious sentiment of a particular community’.

The 18-year-old actress said that a criminal complaint was also filed by the Secretary of Raza Academy in Mumbai on the same day with the Commissioner of Police asked to take appropriate action against the petitioners, further taking down the video and prevent it from being broadcast.

She was quoted saying in her plea, "The song describes and praises the love between Prophet Mohamed and his first wife Khadeeja. It should be important to note that the song is originally from an old folk song from Kerala which was written in 1978 by PMA Jabbar and first sung by Thalassery Rafeeq, in the praise of the Prophet and his wife Beevi Khadija.

The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-Malayalam speaking states as well.”