Bengaluru:
In some relief for singer Sonu Nigam amid the row around its ‘Kannada’ remarks, the Karnataka High Court has said that the state government has assured that no forced action will be taken against the artist, provided it should cooperate in the investigation.
The singer has approached the High Court, demanding the dismissal of cases filed against him for his comment at a concert in Bengaluru last month.
At the event, Mr. Nigam said that a student in the audience threatened him to sing Kannada. A viral video showed the singer saying, “In my career, I have sung in many languages, but the best songs I have sung so far are in Kannada. We do a lot of shows in many places, but whenever we do shows in Karnataka, we respect me a lot. You don’t like me, There are incidents like Pahalgam attack. “
The comment provoked a huge line. The Karnataka Film Chamber of Commerce announced a ‘non-cousin’ campaign against the singer and said it would continue until he apologizes.
Dharmaraj A, a leader of the supporter-Kannada group Karnataka Rakshan Vedic, filed a police complaint against the singer. Based on the complaint, an FIR was registered against Sonu Nigam under the intentional classes related to insults with the intention of inciting peace and inciting public mischief.
The FIR accused the singer of commenting on the Kannadiga community’s “emotionally provoked” and “hurting emotions”.
District Superintendent of Police, Bengaluru Rural, CK Baba pointed the singer’s Pahalgam to a parallel. He said, “There was no connection between the Kannada song and the request of the incident in Kashmir. Still, he made a statement with the lines that hurt the feelings of Kannadigs. So, we filed a case,” he said.
The singer later released a public apology. “Sorry Karnataka. My love for you is greater than my ego. You always love,” he said.
In an earlier post, the popular singer said, “I am not a young child to insult anyone. I am 51 years old, in the second half of my life, I am entitled to commit crime for someone, because my son has threatened me directly in front of thousands of people in the name of language that Kannada is also my second language when it comes for my work.”
