Arrest warrant issued against Rakhi Sawant for her allegedly derogatory remarks about Valmiki
A team from the Punjab Police has left for Mumbai to carry out the Ludhiana court order.
A local court in Ludhiana has issued an arrest warrant for television personality Rakhi Sawant for her allegedly derogatory remarks about Valmiki, author of age-old Indian epic Ramayana. A team from the Punjab Police has left for Mumbai to arrest her, reported Hindustan Times.
Valmiki supporters had staged demonstrations and filed a police complaint against Sawant for hurting their religious sentiments. The arrest warrant was issued after Sawant failed to appear for a court hearing on March 9. The next hearing of the case is on April 10.
Last year, Sawant had allegedly compared Valmiki with singer Mika Singh. While giving an example of how people change, Sawant had claimed that Valmiki was once was a murderer but later wrote the Ramayana, reported PTI. Sawant had charged Singh with molesting her in 2006.
Sawant, however, denied the allegations. “I am not Salman Khan, I am Rakhi Sawant. You won’t get anything by putting charges on me. I am a simple girl who does social work and works in movies,” she said, according to The Indian Express. Sawant added that she had never received any court summon.
Sawant also explained that she had only cited it as an instance. “I just gave an example from what I have read in my childhood. Just like Valmiki, who got changed from being a robber to a saint, Mikaji also has changed. It was just an example,” she added. However, she apologised to the Valmiki community. “I want to apologise to all the Valmiki community brothers and sisters, if I have hurt their sentiment. But this wasn’t my intention,” said Sawant.