Actor Prakash Raj faces police complaint in Delhi over alleged remarks on Ramayana

New Delhi. Veteran Indian film actor Prakash Raj has once again found himself embroiled in controversy. A police complaint has been filed against him in Delhi, accusing him of insulting and mocking Lord Ram and the sacred Hindu epic, the Ramayana.

The controversy erupted after a video from the Kerala Literature Festival went viral on social media. In the video, Prakash Raj is seen narrating a fictional story about the Ramayana written by children. 

While narrating the story, he included a sequence where Ram, Lakshman, and Sita reach a field while heading south and consume fruit from it. He depicted Ravana and Shurpanakha as the owners of the field, who then demand payment from Ram and Lakshman for the fruit consumed.

Prakash Raj also incorporated the modern tax system 'GST' into his fictional narrative. He satirically claimed that Shurpanakha demanded 2,000 dollars including GST for the fruit, while Ravana offered a 20 percent discount. 

He continued the story by stating that when Ram and Lakshman revealed they had no money, Ravana asked them to work off the debt and plant seeds to grow trees. In the video, he presented the encounter between Ram, who came from North India, and Ravana from the South in a humorous style.

During the narration, he also touched upon the North-South India divide. He commented that people from North India should not attempt to impose the Hindi language on the South, nor should they interfere in what others choose to eat.

Alleging that Prakash Raj's remarks hurt religious sentiments, advocate Amita Sachdeva has filed a complaint against him with the Delhi Police's South District Cyber Cell. Sachdeva announced on the social media platform X that she has filed the complaint, demanding action under various sections of the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita and the IT Act.