Patna High Court stayed criminal proceedings against Shah Rukh Khan, his wife Gauri, Bollywood director Karan Johar and others in connection with an FIR lodged against them in Muzaffarpur district recently for inappropriate depiction of a deity in a film and allegedly hurting religious sentiments of the people. Justice Gopal Prasad passed the order staying criminal proceeding against Khan and the other accused persons named in the FIR and issued notice to the case informant Sudhir Kumar Ojha directing him to file his reply in the matter. The FIR was lodged against Khan and eight others at the sadar police station in Muzaffarpur district on the direction of Chief Judicial Magistrate S P Singh in November last year after hearing a complaint case filed by Ojha. In his petition Ojha had charged the accused with hurting religious sentiments of the people by depicting deity ‘Radha’ inappropriately in a song in the film ‘Student of the Year.
Khan and his wife were made co-accused in the FIR as the film was produced by their production company – M/S Red Chillies Entertainment Ltd in partnership with Dharma Production, which was also named as accused in the case. Varun Dhawan, Alia Bhatt and Siddharth Malhotra – all debutants and leading actors of the film, too were named as accused in the case.
