VARRIER MOVES TOP COURT FOR QUASHING OF FIR AGAINST HER

NEW DELHI: Actor Priya Prakash Varrier, who shot to fame overnight with her wink in a song of Malayam movie Oru Adaar, approached the Supreme Court on Monday seeking quashing of criminal cases lodged against her in Telangana and Maharashtra.

Varrier, 18, and movie director Omar Abdul Vahab also asked the top court to stop other states from initiating any new criminal proceedings against them.

In her plea, Varrier, a college student from Kerala’s Thrissur, asked for protection from an FIR lodged on complaints alleging that the lyrics of the song Manikya Malaraya Poovi were “offensive” or have “violated the religious sentiment of a particular community”.

“The criminal complaints have been instituted by various fringe groups based on a distorted and incorrect interpretation of the song in the states of Telangana, Maharashtra and similar complaints are likely from other non-malayalam speaking states as well,” she said in her plea.

The song, which is a Mappila song or a traditional Muslim number from the Malabar region of Kerala describes and praises the love between Prophet Mohammed and his first wife Khadeeja, read the petition.

Varrier said the complaints were an attempt to curb the freedom of expression of people and dragged the “young college student, into a criminal case for merely acting in a movie.”

The claims that it hurt religious sentiments are “without any basis and what is hard to fathom is that a song which has been in existence for the past 40 years... is now being treated as an insult to the Prophet and his wife,” the plea said. GUWAHATI: An alleged rapist and murderer of a 5-year-old girl and his accomplice were beaten to death by a mob in Tezu town of Arunachal Pradesh on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, the duo Sanjay Sobor, 30, and Jagdish Lohar, 25, were dragged out of police custody by the mob and beaten to death on the streets.

“The incident took place at 12:05 pm. A mob of nearly 1,000 people attacked the police lockup and took away the two accused. Some policemen have also sus- tained injuries,” said Apur Bitin, DIG (Eastern Range), Arunachal Pradesh police.

The duo had allegedly abducted a 5-year-old girl on February 12.The police had arrested the two on Sunday.

Sobor had reportedly confessed to abducting and raping the child and killing her afterwards with a machete belonging to Lohar.

Chief minister Pema Khandu termed the rape and murder of the minor girl as “barbaric and inhuman” and termed Monday’s incident as “unfortunate”.