Delhi HC bans Honey Singh and Badshah's 'Volume 1' 20 Years Post-Release - "Grossly Vulgar, Obscene & Derogatory"

After pulling out Nora Fatehi’s “Sarke Chunar”, this time the Delhi High Court has ordered from the complete takedown of Badshah and Honey Sigh’s 2006-07 collab “Volume 1”. HC called the song, released under “Mafia Mundeer” group, vulgar, obscene, and insulting to women.

The song lyrics were so explicit that even the lyrics could not be repeated in court. “In whatever forms the song is available on social media platforms, it has to be taken down is clearly the opinion. No one can deny this. We cannot allow even the slightest of it to be on social media,” read HC’s statement. The court also specified that art should have some limits and artists can’t hide behind creative freedom. According to HC, if the content is seen as degrading or obscene, it won’t be tolerated.

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The ban, coming 20 years after the release, raises some critical questions for us. HC has clearly mentioned it is keeping a “hawk eye”. Music platforms like YouTube and Spotify can’t host such music and walk away; such is the order.

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Looking at media broadly, music comes under content, the same as content by other creators and influencers. Any content, according to the HC, spreads fast and is being taken more seriously as it also earns money. HC cites this as a reason for limited tolerance and threshold, mentioning it must adhere to norms.

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Government’s new IT rules go beyond registered news publishers. Oversight now includes user-generated news, bringing influencers and citizen journalists under regulation. As IT rules get stricter, with content creators being given only 3 hours to pull off flagged videos, the main motive behind such actions is debatable. While we cannot accept blatant misogyny in music, is artistic freedom at stake?