Court allows Honey Singh to travel abroad for shows
A court in Nagpur allowed rapper Yo Yo Honey Singh, booked in a case related to his songs, to travel abroad for his concerts at Dubai, China, Thailand and Hong Kong spread over two months. Additional Sessions Judge Subhash Karhale, while accepting Singh's request to travel abroad, rejected the prosecution's argument against relaxing the conditions imposed on him four years ago while granting anticipatory bail in the case.
One of the conditions was that the 36-year-old singer, whose real name is Hirdesh Singh, cannot travel abroad without the court's permission. Singh was granted anticipatory bail as he apprehended arrest after an FIR was filed against him at the Pachpaoli Police Station here. The FIR was filed under relevant sections of the IPC and Information Technology Act over his alleged obscene songs and uploading of their videos on social networking sites.
According to the prosecution, Singh had not been cooperating with the police and had also not given his voice sample for analysis as directed by the court. However, the court ruled that it was for the prosecution to take appropriate steps against the applicant for effective investigation and this was no ground to not relax conditions of anticipatory bail imposed on him on October 27, 2015.
The complainant in this case, through his lawyer Raspal Singh Renu, also opposed any relaxation to Singh and said the singer was not cooperating in the probe. Singh, through his counsels Atul Pande and Ashish Killedar, had moved the application seeking the court's nod to travel abroad for professional performances scheduled from October 1 to November 30.
According to the travel plan submitted by Singh to the court, he has to go to Dubai, Thailand, China and Hong Kong for his shows. The court directed Singh to comply with the conditions imposed by it on December 24, 2014, and subsequently on October 27, 2015.
The judge asked him to report to the court on December 10 after returning from the tour.
