It began with a traffic light and a mass of cameras. Mumbai usually is a noisy city on a Tuesday night, but outside Hinduja hospital things were sour on Tuesday night. Salman Khan was there to visit someone. It is not known who was in the building. That is, he was going where it hurt and was exposed.
The paparazzi didn’t give a shit. They saw his car and rushed him. The flashings were set off all over. “bhai, bhai” was shouted at the top of their lungs. They were pushing him directly outside the hospital. He got out of his car and he blew up. In fact, you can hear the photographers apologize in the viral videos. They knew that they had entered a boundary. But he had already suffered the loss of his patience.
A Midnight Meltdown on Instagram
The rage had not abated an hour later. It was Wednesday night and we were dead in the middle of the night. Most actors have a PR team to whom they supervise their thoughts. Salman only took up his phone and began typing. He posted a set of angry, all-caps-on, tweets to Instagram.
He spoke of fidelity. He reminded the press that he’s been with them all along. He has been around them, tended to them, provided for them and given them a livelihood. Then his voice suddenly changed and sounded harsh. He said they were seeking to make money from his losses.
Next came the sentence that lit the internet ablaze. “bhai bhai bhai matrabhumi picture ki maaa ki aankh, pic imp hai ya life”.
The term “loaded” was used. Now he’s stuck with a much-anticipated patriotic movie titled Maatrubhumi, based on the Galwan Valley clash. He didn’t care about PR at that moment, as you can see by dragging his title for his upcoming film into an angry rant. What he was basically saying was that the film has no impact whatsoever, when compared to the real life and real pain.
But he didn’t stop there. This 60 year old superstar was on a challenge to anyone reading. He challenged them to imagine that they would be in a hospital bed if their own loved one was in it. He capped it off with a straight come-on and a weird taunt. He warned them he hasn’t forgotten how to fight. Then he replied, “jail mein dalo ge haaa haaa”. It was chaotic. A lot of fans flooded the comments. Some supported him. There was a lot of confusion.
Go into the New Rules of the Game
Here lies the meeting of a late night rant and India’s new legal landscape. The old Indian Penal Code is no longer in use. The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita or BNS replaced it. The BNS has a very modernized and a very strict definition of public obscenity and nuisance.
The old law’s concept of obscenity was largely limited to matters of physical acts or books in print. The BNS was designed and created for the internet age. Particular attention is paid to the use of digital areas. A million followers is a big public square on Instagram. If you use a word like “maaa ki aankh” in a public posting, you’ll tread a lot of legal ground.
The legal watchers are well aware of how this operates. Abusive or vulgar words cannot be carelessly thrown in the direction of a crowd of people in public. Paparazzi are professional people. The post was negative. This was a passionately written piece. It is easy to see how the reading of it could lead anyone to enter a police station and state that the language is obscene and a public nuisance. BNS system will allow for digital outbursts to have legal consequences.
A Very Thin Line Between Anger and Crime
What makes this particular post so legally perilous? It’s all about purpose and audience.
The law does not have an opinion as to provocation. It’s focused on the action. The BNS squeezes the definition of ‘offensive behaviour’ into the internet. It can be easy to trigger a BNS obscenity charge for a public display of a huge superstar uttering a bit of aggressive and suggestive language.
There’s no clause for having a really bad day in the system. The language is threatening. He challenged the authorities by threatening to go to prison. At times, the law takes such risks seriously. These screenshots could be brought before a magistrate tomorrow morning by a random activist seeking two minutes of fame. This is a common occurrence in Mumbai. Celebrities, when they get angry, post something on Twitter and then they wait years for court summons. The word usage is fixed. The screenshots are saved anywhere.
The Awkward Apology at a Bollywood Party
So Wed night came. The industry celebrated the triumph of the Marathi film Raja Shivaji at a success party. Everyone expected fireworks.
Salman walked in. However, the paparazzi adopted a whole new approach. No crowding occurred. There was no screaming for pictures. Rather, it was a string of apologies that rang from various mouths. As he passed by his friends Riteish Deshmukh, Mahesh Manjrekar, they kept saying, “Sorry bhai, sorry.”
He actually stopped. He leaned forward to hear what the commotion was about. After they confessed to being sorry for the hospital incident, he only waved at them with his hand. A simple wave to communicate that it was OK. He took the apology on the spot on the red carpet.
In the Legal Web, what comes next?In the Legal Web, what next?
The street mongering has been removed. The photographers retreated and obtained forgiveness from them. However, the situation regarding legality is still entirely uncovered.
Public post does not get taken away by a private apology at a movie party. BNS is not about forgiveness, but about forgiveness. The police will investigate if a formal complaint is made about the language used in the aforementioned early morning Instagram posts. The state can take heed. The internet will never forget.
