Now, Hyderabad police book Salman Khan for insulting religion during 'Bigg Boss 7'

Hyderabad police on Friday booked actor Salman Khan for hurting religious sentiment of Muslims in a TV reality show hosted by him.

Complaint filed against Salman Khan, 'Big Boss 7' for 'insulting religion'

Mohammed Fasihuddin, a businessman, had moved the magistrate's court seeking a direction to the police to register a criminal case, on the ground that the show hurt the religious sentiments of the Muslim community, said his lawyerM A Qawi Abbasim.

"We registered an FIR on December 13. We will have to investigate the case. We need to question the complainant and gather evidence before proceeding further," said a senior police official when asked whether the actor would be summoned for probe.

The FIR against Salman and producers of the show "Bigg Boss" was lodged under section 295 of the Indian Penal Code at Falaknuma police station in the old city of Hyderabad.

Police Commissioner Anurag Sharma told reporters that the case was booked on the direction of a city court after a petitioner, in his complaint, alleged that the religious sentiments of Muslims were hurt during the show.

"Before proceeding further with the investigations in the case, we have sought legal opinion with regard to the jurisdiction and culpability," he said.

The police chief said the petition alleged that the show hurt the religious sentiments by depicting "Jannat" (heaven) and "Jahannum" (hell).u00a0The complainant has also claimed that certain expressions used by Salman for describing elimination and promotion of participants were offensive.

In October, a Mumbai-based activist had filed a complaint with the magistrate's court against producers of Big Boss-7, anchored by actor Salman Khan, alleging that it hurt religious sentiments.

Hemant Patil, the activist, had claimed that the show divided its participants in two teams: Angels and Devils. The 'Devils' carry tridents, which is in fact the weapon/symbol of Lord Shiva as per the Hindu mythology, so it hurt his sentiments, he claimed. Bones were tied to trident, which too was offensive, the complainant had claimed.u00a0