A few days ago, a complaint was filed against ace filmmaker Farah Khan, actress Raveena Tandon & comedian Bharti Singh for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Christians on a TV show hosted by Farah Khan. A case against the trio was registered under the relevant section of the Indian Penal Code in the Beed city of Maharashtra by Ashish Shindeat the Shivaji Nagar Police Station, who is a head of a local NGO.
It soon got transferred to Malad Police Station under whose jurisdiction the accused live, according to the official. A similar case was also registered against them by the Amritsar Police.
Following this, Farah Khan & Raveena Tandon paid a visit to Indian Cardinal of Roman Catholic Church, Cardinal Oswald Gracias for tendering an apology for the same controversy.
In a statement, Farah quoted saying, “His Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias met us. We apologised and asked him to forgive our mistake and he very graciously accepted our apology. He also issued a statement on our behalf to end this matter.”
The case was registered against them, claiming that they used the biblical expression “Hallelujah” on Flipkart Video Original’s quiz show ‘Backbenchers’ in an offensive manner. This was regarding the episode that was aired on Christmas Eve.
Farah Khan also tried to clear the air by tweeting, “I respect all religions, and it would never be my intention to disrespect any. On behalf of the entire team, Raveena Tandon, Bharti Singh and Myself…we do sincerely apologise.”
Raveena Tandon was no behind in apologising & tweeted, “I haven’t said a word that can be interpreted as an insult to any religion. The three of us (Farah Khan, Bharti Singh and I) never intended to offend anyone, but in case we did, my most sincere apologies to those who were hurt.”
The entire episode was also taken off air by Flipkart Video after the controversy.
President of Indian Christian Voice, Dr Abraham Mathai said that the Christian community accepted the apology tendered by Farah, Raveena and Bharti Singh & appreciated Flipkart video & Walmart CEO for taking the episode off air & considering their demands & sentiments.
Mathai also added that the apology was graciously accepted by the Cardinal & that the Christian community too must accept their apology in the true spirit of Christ.
Bharti Singh, who is out of the country also apologised on Twitter saying, “From the bottom of my heart I would like to say Sorry to my Christian brothers and sisters for hurting their sentiments. Thank you Your Eminence Cardinal Oswald for personally hearing my apology in the voice note (as I’m not in the country) and forgiving me.”
Farah too took to Twitter to express her gratitude for accepting their apology & said, “To err is human to forgive divine. Thank you, Your Eminence Cardinal Oswald Gracias for meeting us and accepting our heartfelt apologies and putting this unfortunate matter to rest.”
