AIB Roast: HC stay on Deepika Padukone’s arrest till March 16

Deepika’s lawyer Ameet Nayak argued before Justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai that Padukone was merely among the audience. Following the show, held on December 20, 2014, a couple of FIRs were filed in Pune and Mumbai naming Deepika Padukone and actors Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor and filmmaker Karan Johar.

[related-post]

In addition to several sections under the Indian Penal Code (IPC), the Bombay Police Act and the Information Technology Act, the FIR was filed under Section 294 (obscene act in public place) and Section 509 (act intended to insult modesty of women) of IPC.

“The Maharashtra Region and Town Planning Act does not apply as she was a spectator. Sections 294 and 509 cannot apply,” said Naik.

The expletives-laden, insult comedy over actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh was uploaded on YouTube on January 28, 2014. AIB members  — Rohan Joshi, Tanmay Bhat, Ashish Shakya and Gursimran Khamba — were granted a reprieve by the court on February 16.

The court has also directed the police against any coercive action against Karan Johar. The grounds seeking the reliefs in Deepika Padukone’s petition is similar to that of AIB who had questioned the application of Section 66 of the Information Technology Act, which provides for punishment for sending offensive messages through a computer resource or a communication device.

The concert was a ticketed one and nobody who had attended it registered any complaint, they had said.

aamir.khan@expressindia.com