Rapper Honey Singh booked for singing vulgar songs

With the Punjab and Haryana High Court coming down heavily on the lewd lyrics of songs sung by singer-rapper Honey Singh, the Punjab Police Friday booked him for singing vulgar songs in public.

A case was registered against the singer under provisions of Section 294 (singing, reciting or uttering any obscene song, ballad or words, in or near any public place) of the Indian Penal Code in Punjab's Nawanshahr town, some 80 km from here, a police official said.

"We have registered a case against singer Honey Singh for his vulgar songs following the high court directions," Superintendent of Police S.S. Bhangoo told IANS over phone from Nawanshahr.

The police officer was, however, evasive when asked as to why a case was not registered against the singer when a complaint against him was filed by an NGO earlier this year.

The Punjab and Haryana High Court had Tuesday directed the Punjab Police to book Honey Singh for singing songs based on sexual themes and innuendoes.

A division bench of the high court said that Honey Singh's "songs make us hang our heads in shame". The bench said that singers like him should be boycotted as his songs were disrespectful to women.

Honey Singh had courted controversy over the lyrics of his song "main hoon balatkari" (I am a rapist). However, he claimed that he had only sung the song but had not written the lyrics.

A voluntary organisation called HELP (Human Empowerment League Punjab) had filed a police complaint against Honey Singh and some other singers in January this year. However, no action was taken against them. It is only after the high court's intervention that Honey Singh has been booked by the police.

The NGO in its complaint had claimed that the songs of these singers projected women in poor light, promoted violence against women and even encouraged rape.

"We welcome the directions of the high court and the case registered against Honey Singh. This should have happened much earlier. We will take up the matter of vulgar songs by other singers as well," HELP's general secretary Parvinder Singh Kitna said.