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Saurabh Bharadwaj, 2 AAP leaders booked over Santa Claus skit
AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj, along with two party leaders, were booked on Wednesday over a skit video posted from their X handles, which allegedly depicted people dressing as Santa Claus fainting due to air pollution. The complaint, submitted by advocate Khusboo George, alleged that the skit hurt religious sentiments of Christians as it showed […]
According to the FIR, the videos were uploaded on December 17 and 18. (file photo)
AAP Delhi president Saurabh Bharadwaj, along with two party leaders, were booked on Wednesday over a skit video posted from their X handles, which allegedly depicted people dressing as Santa Claus fainting due to air pollution.
The complaint, submitted by advocate Khusboo George, alleged that the skit hurt religious sentiments of Christians as it showed “individuals dressed as Santa Claus, a revered religious and cultural icon for Christians worldwide, …portrayed in a derogatory and mocking manner”.
The two AAP leaders booked are Burari MLA Sanjeev Jha and Adil Ahmad Khan.
According to the FIR, the videos were uploaded on December 17 and 18. In the purported video, Bharadwaj could be seen measuring the AQI at Connaught Place while two persons dressed up as Santa Claus are standing among a crowd of people. Then, Bharadwaj reads the AQI on the machine, and goes near Santa Claus to say that the “AQI is 376”. Upon hearing this, both the Santa Clauses pretend to faint, while Bharadwaj could be seen giving them CPR to revive them.
In the FIR, George described the videos as showing content which depicted a “political skit performed in public”. She alleged that in the videos, people posing as Santa Claus were used as mere props for political messaging. “….Offenders are seen performing mock CPR and ridiculing a figure that represents the sacred legacy of Saint Nicholas and the holy festival of Christmas,” she alleged.
Bharadwaj, meanwhile, in a statement claimed that while three of them have been booked, no FIRs are registered against people who make indecent remarks against Santa Claus. “Near Garhi in Lajpat Nagar, Christian women were threatened, stopped, and had their Santa Claus caps forcibly snatched, yet no FIR was lodged. Recently, Pandit Dhirendra Shastri in Katni made highly objectionable and indecent remarks about Santa Claus and people applauded, but no FIR was filed,” he alleged.
“So why is an FIR being registered? Because we raised the issue of Delhi’s pollution while wearing Santa Claus costumes, and that has caused pain in the government’s stomach…,” he added.
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