Court Dismisses Case Against Actress Whose Wink Went Viral

An Indian actress winked as part of a movie scene—and found herself accused of blasphemy. But India's Supreme Court has now dismissed the case against Priya Prakash Varrier, the BBC reports. Varrier, 18, was dubbed India's "national crush" after a song from her upcoming film, Oru Adaar Love, was released in February and a scene from the video, in which Varrier winks at a male character in the movie, quickly went viral. A conservative Muslim group argued that the wink was blasphemous, and police charged Varrier, who then petitioned the high court.

The complainants argued that the song, "Manikya Malaraya Poovi," made reference to the Prophet Mohammed's wife and was thus "sacred," Global News reports. But the supreme court ultimately dismissed the blasphemy case against Varrier as well as the film's director and producer, finding that there had been no malicious intent. "Somebody in a film sings a song and you have no other job but to file a case?" said the chief justice in the ruling, per NDTV. He also reportedly added, "It's only a song!" The film's planned March release was delayed until the case was resolved; it will now be released this month. (More India stories.)