Munmum Dutta a.k.a Babita from Tarak Mehta ka Ooltah Chashma, last year, made a casteist slur in a YouTube video. She was later interrogated by Haryana’s town Hansi police for the same.
There were some rumours that the actress was arrested, while she finally clarified that it was a ‘regular interrogation’ and no arrest was taken place.
In an interview, she said, “Contrary to rumours claiming that I was ‘arrested’, I want to clarify that I went in for a regular interrogation with the police officials. I was not arrested. In fact, I had received the interim bail from the court already on Friday before I went in for the interrogation. The officials at Hansi Police Station spoke to me for two and half hours about the case and noted down all important details. They were extremely polite and well behaved. I have been cooperating with the police and will continue to do so.”
She added, “I am deeply upset with the stories that are being spun around the case, just for headlines. At the same time, I would request media professionals to not create false narratives around the case. The clickbait headlines and thumbnails being used by several portals are deeply disturbing and unethical, to say the least.” She also said that at the time of the report, she was ‘on sets, shooting for her show’.
She also issues a public apology after she passed the comment. The apology read, “This is in reference to a video that I posted yesterday wherein one word used by me has been misinterpreted. It was never said with the intent to insult, intimidate, humiliate or hurt anyone’s feelings. Because of my language barrier, I was genuinely misinformed about the meaning of the word.”
“Once I was made aware of its meaning I immediately took the part down. I have the utmost respect for every single person from every caste, creed or gender and acknowledge their immense contribution to our society or nation. I sincerely would like to apologize to every single person who has been unintentionally hurt by the usage of the word and sincerely regret the same,” she further added.
