The Telangana High Court on Thursday, 7 July, dismissed a petition filed by actor Sai Pallavi, seeking to set aside a notice issued by the Hyderabad Police over her recent comments on The Kashmir Files, which triggered a controversy.
The actor wanted the notice to be set aside by declaring it illegal, unjust, and in violation of applicable laws.
In her petition, Sai Pallavi contended that the notice was issued on the basis of a “malicious” petition that did not specify why the petitioner’s sentiments were offended, or what the complaint was about, The New Indian Express reported.
Background
The notice was issued by the Sultanbazar Police in Hyderabad following a complaint filed by a Bajrang Dal activist, who alleged that she compared cow protectors to Kashmiri terrorists during an interview last month. Sai Pallavi, whose most recent role was that of a woman who falls in love with a Naxal leader and writer in the film Virata Parvam, was responding to questions about ideology and violence in an interview with YouTube channel Greatandhra.
During the interview, Sai Pallavi talked about The Kashmir Files and said that the Kashmiri Pandit exodus and the recent incidents of lynching of suspected cow smugglers were both wrong, and that violence of any kind should be condemned.
She had said, "The film, The Kashmir Files, shows how Kashmiri Pandits were killed. Recently, there was an incident of a person being killed for carrying a cow because he was suspected to be a Muslim. After killing the person, the attackers raised 'Jai Shri Ram' slogans. Where is the difference between what happened in Kashmir and what happened recently?"
Following the controversy over her comments, Sai Pallavi released a video on Instagram to clarify that she did not mean to disparage any tragedy, and had only meant to say that violence of any kind is wrong.
"In a recent interview, I was asked if I was a supporter of the left or the right-wing. I clearly stated that I believe I'm neutral. We need to be good human beings first before we identify ourselves with our beliefs and that the oppressed need to be protected at any cost," she said, in reference to the interview she gave earlier ahead of the release of her film Virata Parvam.
(Published in arrangement with The News Minute.)
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