A controversial poster depicting the goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette has sparked outrage on the Internet. Netizens have been criticising the creators and accusing them of offending religious sentiments. Ashoke Pandit, a filmmaker, was also among them. He slammed the poster, comparing it to Nupur Sharma’s statement. He also demanded that the film’s director, Leena Manimekalai, be arrested.
Not only him, but many others claimed that the Hindu deity was being disrespected and demanded harsh punishment for the filmmaker. Many people raised concerns about free expression and asked the Indian judiciary to intervene and take strict action against the film.
A police report has been filed against Director Leena Manimekalai.
On Monday, a Delhi-based lawyer filed a police complaint against Director Leena Manimekalai over a contentious poster for her new documentary. Manimekalai shared the aforementioned contentious poster on social media on July 2. Goddess Kaali is shown smoking a cigarette in the poster.
It has sparked a massive social media backlash, with calls to arrest the director trending on Twitter. “The Director has offended my religious sentiments by depicting Goddess Kali smoking, which is highly objectionable and in no way acceptable,” Jindal told.
“This deliberate and malicious act, intended to outrage religious feelings of the Hindu Community through highly objectionable video and photo from her twitter account by the accused, which is well circulated in social media and all public platforms is an offence under section 295A,298, 505, 67 I.T Act and 34 IPC and therefore penal action should be taken against the accused,” read the complaint filed with the Cyber Cell of Delhi Police.
The lawyer went on to say that the objectionable video clip and photo should be banned and removed from the internet immediately due to the defamatory impact and enrage it would cause to Hindus because it disparaged a specific community’s religious beliefs.
The lawyer went on to say that the objectionable video clip and photo should be banned and removed from the internet immediately due to the defamatory impact and enrage it would cause to Hindus because it disparaged a specific community’s religious beliefs.
‘Kaali,’ a documentary by Leena Manimekalai
According to a Tamil news portal, Manimekalai stated that the documentary is based on the events that occur one evening when Goddess Kali appears and strolls through the streets of Toronto.