The Madras High Court on Monday quashed a private complaint lodged against actor Dhanush, Aishwarya Rajinikanth and a few others under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply, and Distribution) Act of 2003.
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh allowed the quash petitions and held that smoking scenes found on the posters of the 2014 movie Velai Illa Pattadhari (VIP) would not attract the offence under Section 5 of COTPA, which prohibits only producers, suppliers, and distributors of tobacco products from advertising them.
Stating filmmakers could not be prosecuted under the legal provision, the judge said: “A penal statute has to be strictly construed since the consequence of an action taken under the statute will touch upon the life or personal liberty guaranteed under Article 21 of the Constitution.”
The judge added: “Courts cannot be swayed by emotions. If the facts do not constitute an offence, the court cannot try to expand the scope of the provision by considering the adverse impact that a tobacco or tobacco product can have on society and particularly the younger generation.”
In an affidavit filed through his counsel, Vijayan Subramanian, the actor accused a committee constituted under COTPA of not having afforded him an opportunity to explain his stand before it lodged the private complaint, through an authorised officer, before a Metropolitan Magistrate at Saidapet in Chennai.
He also questioned the delay of eight years in lodging the complaint. However, the judge did not go into the issue of laches since he quashed the complaint on its merits. The complaint against Ms. Aishwarya had been lodged in her capacity as a director of Wunderbar Films, which produced the movie.
The other individuals against whom the complaint was quashed included film producer AVM Kumaran, exhibitor ‘Abirami’ Sv.Rm. Ramanathan, Wooldlands theatre managing partner N. Venkatesh, and Padmam theatre proprietor C.T. Ramanathan.
