Mahesh Manjrekar Won’t Get Protection From Arrest ( Photo Credit – Mahesh Manjrekar / Instagram )
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A couple of days back, filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar landed in legal trouble when an FIR was filed against him for allegedly showing kids and women in a bad light. The director faced the heat for his latest Marathi film Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha. The filmmaker was booked for allegedly showing ‘obscene scenes involving minor children and women.’
Now in the latest development, the Mumbai court has refused to grant any protection to the filmmaker, who moved to the court seeking the dismissal of the FIR. Read on to know the complete scoop.
According to the latest report in India Today, Justice Shinde’s bench of the High Court stated that Mahesh Manjrekar won’t get any protection from the arrest. And if the accused is arrested, they could apply for bail and no protection can be given to the accused. Shinde’s bench told Mahesh’s lawyer to appear before a regular bench on Monday, Feb 28 for the hearing.
During the argument, Mahesh’s lawyer Shirish Gupte gave the reference to the Bollywood film Bandit Queen and told the jury earlier Supreme Court had stated that “that “such scenes should be seen so that society can be aware about such crimes.”
As quoted by India Today, Mahesh Manjrekar’s lawyer Shirish Gupte argued with the bench, and said, “The aim of POCSO is to save the children, their body and mind. In the film nothing has really happened to the boys. It is just a creation of art. The scenes shown in the trailer was never part of film. And the trailer was removed from YouTube.”
Mahesh Manjrekar was booked under IPC Section 292, 34, POCSO Section 14, and IT Section 67, 67B for allegedly showing obscene scenes involving minor children in a Marathi film.
When Gupte asked the court to see the ‘obscene’ scene in the question, jury said they are supposed to see the FIR, not the film scenes. Further arguing to which, he told the court, “We are not supposed to see, we just have to see the FIR,” said the bench. However, Gupte argued, “Until and unless you see it, how will you be able to decide whether it is obscene. With due respect, this is not the right view.”
A couple of weeks back, when the film had landed in legal trouble, Mahesh had then told Hindustan Times, “My film is censored by the authorities. And we have a strict board, so if they didn’t find anything objectionable… It is an adult film. It is dark, so you need to watch it that way. So, I’m at a loss to answer your question. What can one do? One can only do their work and make movies. Everyone has the right to object, so I’m okay with that.”
