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Singer Papon has apologised for touching a “girl child”, though he had “innocent thoughts”, following a complaint against him for “inappropriately kissing” a minor. He says he is “very painfully conscious of the accusations” that have been made against him.
In a video, Papon is seen celebrating Holi with the contestants of the singing reality show The Voice India Kids. The artiste, who is also one of the judges of the show, can be seen planting a kiss on her lips. The video became viral online.
According to reports, Supreme Court lawyer Runa Bhuyan filed a complaint with the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights against Papon under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act (POCSO) Act saying that he has “committed sexual assault”.
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“I am very painfully conscious of the accusations that have been made against me in the last few days. Anyone who knows me would be aware that I am an extremely affectionate and expressive person,” Papon said in a statement.
“That is the way I have been brought up and that’s how I have always been with people close to me or people I care about. To show affection for an 11-year-old child whom I have been mentoring for a while now is not an alien concept for me,” he added.
The video was put on his own Facebook live. So he told people to “stop for a moment and at least wonder why I would promote a video where I am ‘apparently’ doing all the unmentionable things that I am being accused of”.
Papon, who has sung for films like “Barfi!“, “Sultan” and “Dum Laga Ke Haisha“, has been married for over 14 years and has two children.
“There is a little girl involved, whose identity is not masked in any way. Both of our families are being destroyed forever, just by people jumping to conclusions,” he said.