MUMBAI: In a setback for popular actor and filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar, the Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant him protection from any coercive action. The actor has been booked under the stringent POCSO Act for showing minor boys in sexually charged scenes in his recently released film "Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha."
The filmmaker had petitioned a bench led by Justice Sambhaji Shinde seeking an urgent protection from arrest or other coercive action at the hands of the Mumbai Police, which had registered an FIR against him and other makers of the film in question, last week. He has also sought to quash the FIR.
Senior counsel Shirish Gupte for Manjrekar highlighted the fact the POCSO law was brought in to "save and protect the children, their mind and body."
"The scenes to which there has been an objection were not part of the film and were only there in the trailer which was released on YouTube. We have also removed the trailer from the social media platform. Also, nothing really happened to the boys and the scenes in question were just a creation of art," Gupte argued.
The senior counsel accordingly pressed for interim prayer of protection from arrest.
However, the prosecutor for Mumbai Police pointed out that serious allegations have been made against Manjrekar and thus protection shouldn't be granted.
Accordingly, the bench while posting the matter for further hearing on February 28 said, "We cannot give a blanket protection."
Notably, the Mahim Police was ordered by a local court to register FIR after it found substance in the private complaint filed before it by one Seema Deshpande.
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