Sonu Nigam's petition in Karnataka High Court to quash FIR pertaining to recent Bengaluru concert row has been granted
Following a plea to quash a police case against him, singer Sonu Nigam has been shielded from any coercive action by the Karnataka High Court.
The Karnataka High Court has granted interim relief to singer Sonu Nigam in the case filed against him over his alleged remarks about Kannadigas during a concert in Bengaluru. The court ordered that no coercive action will be taken against him, but told him to cooperate with the inquiry. Sonu Nigam approached the Karnataka High Court seeking to quash a criminal case registered against him over alleged offensive remarks made about the Kannadigas during a recent concert in Bengaluru.
The petition was listed before Justice Shivashankar Amarannavar's vacation bench, as reported by PTI. The controversy stems from an incident that occurred on April 25 at a live concert held at an engineering college in Bengaluru.
Although Nigam made a public statement claiming he has deep love for Karnataka and Kannadigas, something he has done on several junctures in the past as well, and said that his words were misrepresented, his statement, “This is the reason Pahalgam happened,” referencing a terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pahalgam region, sparked outrage on social media. The FIR, registered on May 3, follows a complaint filed by pro-Kannada organisation Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and its member, one Dharma Raj Ananthaiha.
In a video message later posted on social media, the singer clarified his stance and defended himself, saying that a group of boys at the event had rudely threatened him to sing in Kannada while he had just started the show, and was performing Hindi songs. Later, in a few videos shared exclusively by Hindustan Times, it was evident that the singer was being heckled by a few members of the audience during the concert, and how the security had to intervene to bring the situation under control after they were hurling abuses at him. Finally, the singer took to social media to issue an apology and he wrote: "“Sorry Karnataka. My Love for you, is bigger than my Ego. Love you always (sic).”
