December 24, 2017
Actress Shilpa Shetty Kundra has apologised after a FIR was
lodged against her and Bollywood superstar Salman Khan for allegedly using the
word "bhangi" on a public platform that hurt the sentiments of the Scheduled
Caste community.
"Some of my words from an interview in the past have
been misinterpreted. It was never said with the intent of hurting anyone's
feelings," Shipa tweeted on Sunday.
"I apologise if they have. I'm proud
to belong to a country that boasts of diverse castes and creeds and I respect
each one of them," she added.
The FIR was lodged against Salman and
Shilpa on Saturday at Andheri Police station by Navin Ramchandra Lade, General
Secretary of the Rojgar Aghari Republican Party of India.
"We highly
condemn Salman Khan and Shilpa Shetty for using such words that show us in bad
light. We have filed a complaint.
"According to law, he has to serve an
imprisonment of five years," Kishore Masoom, Vice President of Rojgar Aghari
Republican Party of India, told IANS after the FIR was lodged.
On
Saturday, a statement was also issued by Lade's lawyer, which read: "Salman
along with Katrina Kaif on a TV show used the insulting word 'bhangi' against a
member of the Scheduled Caste.
"Actor Shilpa Shetty stated in an
interview 'I look like a bhangi' - it appears from her statement that she is
encouraging and spreading ill-feeling among the entire society. He also
intentionally insulted members of the Scheduled Caste. Both actors have
committed offence under sections of the Scheduled Castes and the Scheduled
Tribes (Prevention of Atrocities) Amendment Act, 2015, and Protection of Civil
Rights Act, 1955."