Madras HC quashes complaint against Dhanush, Aishwarya Rajanikanth for film smoking scenes in movie

Chennai, July 10 (IANS) The Madras High Court on Monday quashed a complaint filed by a government official against actor Dhanush, producer Aishwarya Rajinikanth, and others for having allegedly violated the law with respect to certain smoking scenes in movie "Velai Illa Pattadhari" released in 2014.

A bench of Justice N. Anand Venkatesh quashed the complaint filed by an officer under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products Act of 2003, on the grounds that no offence has been made out under Section 5 of the Act.

The complaint had been lodged before a Metropolitan Magistrate at Saidapet in Chennai for the alleged violation of Section 5 of the Act, which prohibits the promotion/ use/ consumption of cigarettes or any other tobacco products directly or indirectly through advertisements over any medium.

Counsel for Dhanush, Vijayan Subramanian told the court that the smoking scenes in the movie could not be construed as promoting cigarettes, and disclaimers were issued by the makers of the movie as instructed by the censor board.

The actor, through his counsel, told the court that no opportunity for a hearing was given to him to explain his position before the authority concerned before the officer decided to lodge a complaint with the magistrate's court.

Aishwarya Rajinikanth was made an accused in the case as she was then the director of Wunderbar Films that produced the movie.

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