Right-wing organisation Hindu Janajagruti Samiti has filed a complaint with the Karnataka police against comedian Vir Das, and demanded the cancellation of his comedy show scheduled to be held in Bengaluru on November 10. Following the complaint, Vyalikaval police in Bengaluru booked a First Information Report (FIR) against Vir Das for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.
The complaint said that the stand-up comedian's show hurts the religious sentiments of Hindus and shows India in a bad light to the world. Mohan Gowda, state Hindu Janajagruti Samiti spokesperson, said in his complaint, "It has been noticed that the controversial comedian Vir Das is holding a comedy show on November 10 at Chowdiah Memorial Hall in Malleswaram, Bengaluru. Earlier, Vir Das had made derogatory statements against women, our Prime Minister and India at the John F Kennedy Centre in Washington DC, US, and denigrated the country."
"It is a serious offence under the Indian Penal Code. In this context, it is not right to allow such a controversial person to hold such a programme in a communally sensitive city like Bengaluru," the complaint stated. It added, "When Karnataka is already facing many problems due to communal incidents, such events which could vitiate the law and order problems should not be allowed. We demand that this programme should be cancelled immediately." The police have taken up the investigation in the case.
Last year, a lawyer had filed a complaint against Vir Das with the Mumbai police following the latter’s show in Washington. Advocate Ashutosh Dubey, a legal advisor of the BJP in Maharashtra’s Palghar District, filed the complaint against the comedian for “wilfully spelling inciting and derogatory statement[s]” against India, Indian women and Prime Minister Narendra Modi. However, Vir Das had responded to the complaint, “The video is a satire about the duality of two very separate India's that do different things. Like any nation has light and dark, good and evil within it. None of this is a secret. The video appeals for us to never forget that we are great. To never stop focusing on what makes us great.”