HYDERABAD: The national film award conferred on choreographer Shaikh Jani Basha, known as Jani Master, has been suspended by the National Film Awards Cell following his arrest in a POCSO case.
The cell also withdrew the invitation extended to him to attend the awards ceremony that is scheduled to be held at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Tuesday.
The suspension letter stated that the invitation to the choreographer was extended before the allegations of crime under POCSO Act came to light. However, considering the seriousness of the allegation, the national film award for ‘best choreography’ for 2022 to Jani for the film Thiruchitrambalam is suspended until further orders, the official letter said.
It is to be noted that a Rangareddy court on Thursday granted four-day interim bail to Jani from October 6 to October 10 so that he could attend the awards ceremony.
The choreographer was arrested by the Cyberabad police and subsequently lodged in the Chanchalguda Central Prison on charges of sexually assaulting a female assistant choreographer and criminally intimdating her when she was a minor. The survivor, now 21, alleged that Jani sexually assaulted her at a hotel during a shoot in Mumbai in 2019.