The Shiromani Gurdwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC), the apex religious body of the Sikhs, is taking legal action against makers of the upcoming movie “Yaariyan-2” for hurting religious sentiments of Sikh community by showing actor Meezaan Jafri allegedly wearing a ‘kirpan’ – a symbol of Sikh faith – in a song of the movie.
This is after the SGPC rejected the “illogical clarification” by the film directors claiming the actor is wearing a ‘khukri’ (a curved knife) and not a ‘kirpan’ and that they have no intention to offend or disrespect any religious beliefs.
“The Sikhs very well know the shape of a ‘Kirpan’ and a ‘Khukri’, and the way both are worn on one’s body. We are not satisfied with your illogical clarification. Therefore, we are initiating the process of legal action in this case, as the concerned video song is still in public view and continuously hurting religious sentiments of Sikh community,” the SGPC said in a post on microblogging platform X (formerly Twitter).
“The Khukri is worn like a pistol on a belt by a person (mostly Gurkha soldiers) authorised to do so, and similarly, the Sikh Kirpan is worn on a Gatra (belt) like the actor has done in your Saure Ghar video song. Only initiated Sikhs are authorised to wear Kirpan as per mandate of Sikh Rehat Maryada (code of conduct) of Sri Akal Takht Sahib and the right under the Constitution of India,” the SGPC said.
This was after the directors of the film, Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru, issued a statement and said that Meezaan wasn’t wearing Kirpan but a khukri. “We would like to clarify that the actor in the song is wearing a khukri and not a Kirpan. In fact, the dialogues in the film make it explicitly clear that it is a Khukri,” they said in a statement on X.
“We regret any misunderstanding that may have arisen due to the similarity in appearance. Our intention has never been to offend or disrespect any religious beliefs,” the statement read.
Earlier on Monday, the SGPC had accused the makers of objectionable use of Sikh Kakkar Kirpan in the song Saure Ghar. “We raise our strong objection to these visuals filmed, published in ‘Saure Ghar’ song of ‘Yaariyan 2’ film directed by Radhika Rao and Vinay Sapru as actor is seen wearing Sikh Kakaar (symbol of Sikh faith) Kirpan in a highly objectionable manner which cannot be accepted. This has seriously hurt the religious sentiments of Sikh community across the globe,” the Sikh body said in a tweet.
“Only an initiated Sikh has the right to wear Kirpan as per Sikh Code of Conduct of Akal Takht Sahib and the right given by the Constitution of India. This video song is public at the official YouTube channel of TSeries, which must take it down with immediate effect. If any other platform is used to publish this video song with the said objectionable scenes must also take it down. We are immediately raising this objection through all channels to the Government and digital platforms,” it added.
The SGPC had also requested the Union government to ensure that this objectionable video or any of such unacceptable scenes of the said film are not cleared for release by the Censor Board of Film Certification.
“If the videos are not taken down from public view, we shall initiate the legal proceedings are per law for hurting religious sentiments of the minority Sikh community,” the SGPC said.
Yaariyan 2 will be released in the cinemas on October 20.