Pune police book AIB Roast organisers, participants for obscenity

The Pune city police on Thursday booked producers, organisers and participants of the AIB Roast — Karan Johar, Rajeev Masand, Aditi Mittal, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Raghu Ram and Deepika Padukone — for its 'vulgar' content and broadcast on the internet.

The Pune city police on Thursday booked producers, organisers and participants of the AIB Roast — Karan Johar, Rajeev Masand, Aditi Mittal, Ranveer Singh, Arjun Kapoor, Raghu Ram and Deepika Padukone — for its 'vulgar' content and broadcast on the internet.

The-AIB-Roast-an-event-featuring-several-noted-names-from-the-film-industry-and-the-comedy-group-AIB-YouTube-grab

The first information report filed by the Bund garden police came following a complaint by inspector Vazeer Shaikh, with the Crime Investigation Department (CID). The police have invoked sections 292, 294 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code (IPC) and sections 67 and 67A of the IT Act. These sections pertain to prohibition of obscene content and their circulation on the Internet.

According to Shaikh, he decided to lodge a police complaint, after he watched the show on Youtube. Shaikh said his act doesn’t amount to any kind of moral policing.

“The show has espoused a culture of obscenity. The producers and artistes ought to have acted more responsibly, as they are celebrities and have many followers. I felt it was my duty as a citizen to bring these acts to notice,” said Shaikh.

Following the controversy, the organisers on Tuesday pulled out the series of videos from Youtube, triggering the debate on free speech. In their note, the AIB organisers claimed the show was an attempt to bring “the Roast format to a country where celebrities aren’t often known to laugh at themselves”.