New Delhi: The Calcutta High Court has rejected a PIL filed by BJP leader and advocate Nazia Elahi Khan demanding action against producer-director Karan Johar and makers of the show Koffee With Karan as well as OTT platform Disney Hotstar, for allegedly promoting racism, sexuality and obscenity.
Dismissing the PIL on 5 December, the bench comprising Chief Justice Prakash Shrivastava and Justice Rajarshi Bharadwaj said the “object of filing the present public interest petition” was to gain “publicity”.
The PIL filed by Khan alleged that the show was promoting racism, sexuality and obscenity through words and visible representations. It said that vulgar language was used in the talk show. The PIL had, therefore, demanded that police authorities be directed to initiate criminal proceedings against Johar, along with the producer and director of the show, and Disney Hotstar where the show is streamed.
The court also noted that the petitioner has not claimed to have watched the show, and that the PIL was based on newspaper reports. It further noted, “In the writ petition, though, several instances have been mentioned but it has not been disclosed as to in which episode or on what date such comments were made.”
The court also said allegations in the petition were not supported by “cogent materials” and the arguments made do not show that objectionable comments were made in the show recently.
The lawyers for the respondents also told the court that the Information Technology (Intermediaries Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 provides for a grievance redressal mechanism. However, the petitioner had not availed the remedy of grievance redressal.
The high court then rejected the petition, observing, “Hence, in the aforesaid circumstances of the case, we find that no case is made out to entertain this public interest petition which is accordingly dismissed.”
Petitioner challenged Laal Singh Chaddha too
Khan had earlier filed a PIL in the Calcutta High Court seeking prohibition on the screening of Bollywood movie ‘Laal Singh Chaddha’ in West Bengal. She had demanded a direction to the state authorities to prohibit the exhibition of the movie under the West Bengal Cinemas (Regulation) Act, 1954.
The PIL had claimed that the situation in West Bengal was volatile and that the exhibition of the movie would lead to breach of peace and tranquility in the state.
The court, however, rejected the plea on 30 August, noting that the movie had already been released on 11 August and nothing untoward had happened in the state.
“Learned Advocate General has informed that no untoward incident has taken place relating to the release of the film till now. Hence, we find the apprehension raised by the petitioner is unfounded,” it observed, rejecting the petition.
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