Madfras High Court slams people playing super censor boards

Chennai: The Madras high court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL), which sought to prosecute Wunderbar Films Private Limited, producer of a recently released Tamil film, Velaiyilla Pattathari, starring Dhanush, son-in-law of superstar Rajinikanth, for not showing the anti-tobacco health warning scroll when Dhanush was shown smoking in the film.

The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M. Sathyanarayanan, observed, “Every citizen cannot become a super censor board or a super authority in the form of petitioning the court under a PIL.”

While dismissing the PIL from S. Cyril Alexander, state convener of the Tamil Nadu People’s Forum for Tobacco Control (TNPFTC), the first bench passed the order.

The counsel for the petitioner, S. Sathia Chandran, submitted that the film did not run the statutory disclaimer during smoking scenes as required by the Prohibition of Tobacco Advertisement, Promotion, Sponsorship of COPTA - Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products Acts, 2003.

Advertisements for the film prominently carried the picture of Dhanush smoking, which was a violation of the Act. The film did not run the statutory disclaimer for a minimum of 20 seconds. Such scenes in films have to be accompanied by the anti-tobacco health warning scroll.

The violations are punishable under the Act.

Refusing to entertain the PIL, the judges said: “Representations are said to have been made to the committee. It is for the committee to find out whether there is any violation or not. We are thus not inclined to entertain the petition.”