In fresh trouble for the recently released Marathi movie ‘Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha’, a petition has been filed in POCSO court, Mumbai, seeking the registration of an FIR against filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar and others. The application has also sought action against Prasoon Joshi, chairperson of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The court has kept the matter for hearing on January 31.
“In the movie, children aged 13-14 years are shown indulging in sexual activities with their aunt. The movie has a lot of violence involving children and the dialogues they utter are also vulgar in nature. We have approached the court seeking to register a First Information Report against Manjrekar, Joshi and others,” said complainant Seema Deshpande, president of Bharatiya Stree Shakti, an NGO which works for women's empowerment.
She had initially filed a complaint with Mahim and cyber police. However, after they failed to take cognizance of complaint, the NGO has moved an application before the POCSO court.
The complainant approached the court under Section 156(3) of CRPC for seeking a direction to police or any other competent police station to register an FIR under IPC sections 292 (obscenity), 120-B (criminal conspiracy) and 34(common intention) along with section 2 (c) of The Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, and section 13 R/w S. 21 POCSO Act and section 67 of the Information Technology Act.
“After the uproar, the trailer was taken down from social media platforms but it is still widely available with many people who have also downloaded it on their mobiles. We watched the movie in the theatre; some of the scenes have been altered or blurred. However, the storyline is still the same,” Deshpande added.
The complaint, filed through advocate Prakash Salsingikar, said the movie showed obscene content depicting women and minors in an objectionable way.
Earlier this month, when the trailer was released, the NGO had filed a complaint with the National Commission for Women (NCW). Following the complaint, the NCW had written to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the CBFC chairperson to censor sexually explicit content in the trailer. The NCW had also condemned the availability of the movie trailer on social media platforms without any age restrictions.
