Bollywood stars Shilpa Shetty and Salman Khan are under fire
for their use of a derogatory word for scheduled castes in India... and
Shilpa has decided to clear the air and apologise.
In a
two-part tweet, Shetty clarified that "...my words from an interview in
the past have been misinterpreted. It was never said with the intent of
hurting anyone’s feelings. I apologize if they have. I’m proud to
belong to a country that boasts of diverse castes and creeds and I
respect each one of them."
Shilpa tweets come after an FIR against her and Salman
Khan, which was lodged at Andheri Police station by Navin Ramchandra
Lade, General Secretary of the Rojgar Aghari Republican Party of India.
On
Saturday, a statement was also issued by Lade’s lawyer, which read:
“Salman along with Katrina Kaif on a TV show used the insulting word
‘bhangi’ against a member of the Scheduled Caste. Actor Shilpa Shetty
stated in an interview ‘I look like a bhangi’ - it appears from her
statement that she is encouraging and spreading ill-feeling among the
entire society."
The lawyer said the actors have
committed offence under sections of the Scheduled Castes and the
Scheduled Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, and
Protection of Civil Rights Act, 1955. According to Kishore Masoom, Vice
President of Rojgar Aghari Republican Party of India, the punishment for
these offences are is five-year imprisonment.
Last weekend, Salman Khan's Tiger Zinda Hai screenings were also marred by protesters who burned effigies and torn down film posters in front of cinemas in Rajhastan on the film's opening day.
