The National Commission for Women (NCW) on Monday (June 22) heard stand-up comedian Praneet More, Madhur Virali and 'Rs 370 biryani' commenter Himanshu Jangra in the case of objectionable material against women. NCW has refused to accept the apology of all three. According to sources, NCW has also fixed the date of next hearing of the case.
According to the information, NCW rejected the apology of Praneet More, Madhur Virali and a spectator Himanshu Jangra. The Commission took this decision after hearing the arguments of all three. Sources said that during the hearing, all three apologized, but the Commission did not accept their apology and directed them to appear on the next date.
During the hearing, Commission Chairperson Vijaya Rahatkar expressed deep concern and displeasure over such derogatory material being promoted and normalized in the name of comedy. He clarified that the Commission supports creative freedom, but freedom of expression does not mean that violation of women's bodily autonomy should be considered normal or that heinous crimes like rape and murder should be turned into entertainment material.
NCW had issued summons to Praneet More and Himanshu Jangra to appear before the commission in connection with their alleged comments that hurt the dignity of women. Along with this, the Commission had also summoned Virali in a separate case for making derogatory remarks against women during a stand-up act.
Actually this controversy started during a crowd-work show of Praneet More. During this, Himanshu Jangra mentioned about going on a date, in which he spent Rs 370 on a plate of chicken biryani. He told that he had taken a woman on a date and had spent Rs 370 on chicken biryani. He said that when the woman asked him to drop her home, she demanded intimacy in exchange for money spent on biryani. More started laughing at this statement of Jangra.
This clip of the show went viral on social media after which the matter gained momentum. It was heavily criticized on social media. Many celebs also expressed their displeasure regarding this. However, both Praneet More and Himanshu Jangra apologized for the incident. Jangra also deactivated his Instagram account. A company in Gurugram had also fired Jangra from his job due to his comments.
