The Bombay High Court on Tuesday granted protection from arrest for three weeks to actor and director Mahesh Manjrekar and producers of the Marathi film ‘Varan Bhaat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha’ in a case involving obscene scenes against minors. In the hearing held recently, the court also directed the police not to take any action against the director or the film's team, who had an FIR registered against them, under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences (POCSO) Act.
Advocate Ravi Suryavanshi along with advocate Swapnil Ambure led by Sr. Advocate Ponda, said in a statement to ETimes, "The Hon’ble Court has protected the director and producers of the movie 'Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nai Koncha' from arrest. Further, directions are issued to the State Police to not take any coercive action against them. We would be extending our full cooperation to the investigation."
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The filmmaker and the producers said that the registration of the FIR was wrongly ordered by the special court without discussing the scenes or the merits of the case.
For those who don't know, it was claimed that the recently released film, 'Varan Bhaat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha' contained sexually explicit content involving minors. But, the filmmaker's lawyer argued the film had no such scene and that the same was only part of the trailer that was eventually removed from YouTube.
Advocate Ambure added to ETimes, "Court took notice of the fact that the questionable trailer was taken down and the movie released after getting the CBFC's Censor Certification."
