The News Minute | February 13, 2015 | 06:56 pm IST
A Mumbai court recently ordered the police to register an FIR against the people involved in the All India Bakchod (AIB) Roast, after social activist Santosh Daundkar filed a petition, through advocate Abha Singh, before additional chief metropolitan magistrate CS Baviskar.
14 people have reportedly been named in the FIR registered at the Tardeo police station, including the president of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) Jayantilal Shah, NSCI general secretary Ravinder Aggarwal, organisers of the AIB Roast, Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, Rohan Joshi, Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya, Aditi Mittal, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Rajeev Masand and Arjun Kapoor.
According to The Indian Express, the sections under which the police will initiate investigation include Section 120-b (criminal conspiracy), Sections 294, 509 (obscene acts or words in a public place, act intended to outrage a woman’s modesty) of the IPC and Section 67 and 66 A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 (circulation of obscene content on the Internet) along with provisions of the Bombay Police Act 1951, Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act, 1986 (illegal change of use of Coastal Regulation Zone area) and the Maharashtra Regional and Town Planning Act, 1966.
AIB Roast, which was performed in the indoor stadium of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel on January 20, and the videos of which were later uploaded on YouTube, has been courting controversy ever since for its 'vulgar' content.
However the organisers of the show will be investigated under the Environment Protection Act because they have allegedly violated the Act. .
"Section 15 of the Environment Protection Act clearly states that there can be no change in land use. And the organisers have violated the law. This could mean a five year sentence", said Abha Singh in a video published recently by ABP Majha.
"We have also included Deepika Padukone and Alia Bhatt, who were a part of the audience, in our complaint for being abettors", she added.
Hindustan Times in a report notes that Daundkar in his complaint states that the indoor stadium of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel has been built on land which has been leased by the government to the National Sports Club of India. The land was leased primarily for holding sports related activities of the municipal corporation. But using the land for hosting a 'commercial, vulgar, obscene and pornographic show', was a clear violation of the lease agreement.