"Yaarian 2" Song Showing Non-Amritdhari Actor With Sri Sahib Not Insult to Sikhism: P&H High Court Quashes FIR

FIR No. 85 of 30.08.2023 at Jalandhar alleged that a "Yaarian 2" song released by T-Series on YouTube showed actor Neezaan Jafri, clean shaven, wearing the Sri Sahib, one of the five Kakaars, which Sikh custom reserves for Amritdharis, and that the directors and producer hurt Sikh sentiments (paras 1-2). The petitioners said the portrayal was inadvertent, the visuals had been removed and they had apologised (paras 3-4, 15). The State argued that specific allegations made quashing premature (para 5).

Applying Bhajan Lal, the Court set out the ingredients of Section 295-A: an insult or attempt to insult the religion or beliefs of a class of citizens, made with deliberate and malicious intention of outraging their feelings, by words, signs or visible representation (paras 7-9). Relying on Ramji Lal Modi, it noted that insults offered unwittingly or carelessly fall outside the section, a view followed in M.S. Dhoni and Priya Prakash Varrier, and that artistic licence protects creative expression, as observed in Manohar Lal Sharma (paras 10-13). It held that picturising a non-Amritdhari Sikh wearing a Sri Sahib could not be termed an insult to the Sikh religion: the inadvertent portrayal could not be regarded by an ordinary prudent mind as grossly offensive or provocative, and one individual's grievance cannot portray the sentiments of the entire community (para 14). It rejected the second-FIR plea, as this FIR was the earlier one (para 16).