Notorious actress Rakhi Sawant was supposed to be arrested by a Punjab Police team in Mumbai to execute a warrant issued by a local court against her. However, police came, took her statement and asked her to appear in the court. An arrest warrant was issued after Sawant failed to appear before the court on March 9 in a case filed against her for making derogatory remarks against sage Valmiki, the author of the Ramayana which chronicles the life and times of Lord Rama.
Valmiki is celebrated as the harbinger-poet in Sanskrit literature. The epic Ramayana is attributed to him, based on the attribution in the text itself. He is revered as Ādi Kavi, writer of Ramayana. Rakhi Sawant may not even know this side of him. Whatever comments she might have made against the sage is display of her own knowledge. Well, media is always there to support with such hypes. Not that, I’m also fond of Rakhi Sawant but hurting religious sentiments is a terrible reason to arrest someone. If I have intellectually compelling arguments against organised religions, in an enlightened society, I should be allowed to voice them. One needs to understand that “Purana” means ancient, no myth about it, Ramayana was written thousands of years ago, and hence it’s a Purana. Many Puranik stories have different interpretations. No religion is so weak that can be hurt of damaged by some low IQ person’s comment. Indian media always thrive for publicity and TRP, so nothing new if they are giving too much importance to such stupidity.
However, Commissioner of Police (Ludhiana) Kunwar Vijay Pratap Singh later clarified media that there is still no confirmation on her arrest. Non-bailable warrant had been issued by Ludhiana court against Rakhi Sawant. Ludhiana Police has come to Mumbai and Rakhi is very well at her home. The case will be next heard on April 10.
Rakhi Sawant (born Neeru Bheda) is a small time actor dancer and politician. She worked in many Hindi film along with few Kannada, Marathi, Telugu and Tamil films and she also contested in reality shows and conducted talk shows on Television.
Sawant had launched her own political party, the Rashtriya Aam Party to contest the 2014 Lok Sabha Elections. Later on, she resigned from Rashtriya Aam Party and joined RPI (Athavale) party in June 2014 and expressed her desire to work for Dalits. Rakhi serves as party’s state vice-president and president of woman wing.
Rakhi Sawant has often been in the news due to actions and statements that are deemed controversial in the Indian context. Rakhi was born as Neeru Bheda to Jaya Bheda. Jaya married Anand Sawant, a police constable at Worli Police Station, and gave the children from her first marriage her second husband’s name. She is the sister of film director Rakesh Sawant and former actress Usha Sawant. She converted to Christianity from Hinduism.
She made her film debut in Agnichakr under the name Ruhi Sawant. She went on to other small roles and dance numbers in the low-budget Bollywood. In June 2006, Mika Singh attempted to kiss her at his birthday party, which caused a media controversy. A few months later, she appeared in the first season of the reality show Bigg Boss and was among the top four finalists.
In 2007, Rakhi made her singing debut in the album Super Girl launched by Venus Records & Tapes Pvt. Ltd. In 2009, Sawant launched the reality show Rakhi Ka Swayamwar in which she planned to select her future husband by the ancient ritual of Swayamvar. On 2 August 2009 she chose her life partner, a contestant from Toronto, Canada, Elesh Parujanwala. However, several months later, Sawant announced that the couple had separated due to irreconcilable differences.
In April 2017, she again came in controversy for her remarks to Valmiki. Narinder Adiya, an advocate, had lodged a complaint against Sawant in July 2016 for her remarks on a TV show. Sawant, while talking to a private television channel, had claimed that Valmiki was a murderer but later became the author of Ramayana. She was talking about how people transformed in real life. Comparing Valmiki to singer Mika Singh, who had forcibly kissed her during his birthday party in 2006, Sawant said the singer had “changed” for good just like the Hindu sage. After arrest, she gave clarification stating that she just gave an example from what she has learned in her childhood. Just like Valmiki, who got changed from being a robber to a saint, Mika ji also has changed. It was just an example. During the conversation, she even seeks apology, if at all her words have hurt the sentiment of the Valmiki Community. However, her intention was not to hurt anybody. Anyway, let’s see how long this saga stretches by media and the lawyer who filed petition against her.
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