Veteran actor Kamal Haasan has been summoned by a Tamil Nadu court in link with a remark he had made on the Mahabharata in March this year. A PIL was filed against the actor for allegedly hurting Hindu sentiments. He was also accused of triggering enmity between groups and causing disturbance to public tranquility.
The PIL was filed after Haasan made a statement about the Mahabharata to a Tamil news channel. As per a report in Financial Express, Haasan had expressed shock that Indians celebrated a book in which a woman (Panchali) was shown as an object and men (the Pandvas), as gambling her away.
“In Mahabharata, Panchali was used as… collateral. India is a country that respects and honors a book that revolves around men gambling away a woman as if she was a mere object,” the report quotes him as saying.
Reportedly, it was a group called- Hindu Makkal Katchi (HMK) of the Tirunelveli district in Tamil Nadu that filed the PIL against Haasan. They also called him an anti-Hindu. In the meantime, a police complaint was also filed against the actor for the same remarks.
The complaint demands an apology from the actor. “It is unbecoming of actor Kamal Haasan to hurt the sentiments of any religious community, including Christians and Muslims. He has been in the thick of controversies even in the past, and we demand he should apologise,” the complainant said.
