The Madras High Court on Monday, July 10, 2023 quashed a complaint lodged by a government official in 2022, against actor Dhanush, director-producer Aishwarya Rajinikanth and a few others, for having allegedly violated the law with respect to certain smoking scenes in the 2014 movie Velai Illa Pattadhari (VIP).
Justice N. Anand Venkatesh quashed the complaint lodged by an authorised officer under the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act of 2003, on the grounds that no offence had 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 either directly or indirectly through advertisements over any medium.
