Mumbai: A police first information report has been filed against Sunny Leone after a woman from Dombivli complained that the adult film-turned-Bollywood actor is “promoting obscenity and destroying Indian culture and society with her website”. The Thane police say no action in the case will be taken as of now. They say the website cannot be blocked either.
The complainant, Anjali Palan, who reportedly works with the Hindu Janajagruti Samiti, alleged that upon learning that “Leone promotes obscenity in society through her porn videos”, she visited the website, sunnyleone.com, and indeed found pornographic content.
The woman has sought action not only against Leone, but also against all those who uploaded her videos on the site. Thus, Leone and unnamed persons have been booked by the Thane police at Ramnagar police station in Dombivli (East).
Senior inspector Sunil Shivarkar said the police registered the FIR as after getting the complaint, “we went through the website and found that the content was objectionable”.
The charges are the IPC’s sections 292 (obscene and indecent advertisement and display), 292A (printing of grossly indecent or scurrilous matter) and 294 (performing obscene act in public place), the IT Act’s section 67 (publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form), and the Indecent Representation of Women Act’s section 3 (prohibition of advertisements containing indecent representation of women) and 4 (prohibition of publication or sending by post indecent representation of women). The maximum punishment—imprisonment up to five years or fine up to Rs 10 lakh or both—is under the IT Act’s section 67.
“No immediate action will be taken in the case as first the Thane police’s cyber cell will look into who is handling the website and other legal matters,” said joint commissioner of police VV Laxminarayana, Thane. “We have shifted the case from the local police to the cyber cell, who will investigate the matter.”
Senior police inspector JK Sawant from the cell said, “We are trying to contact the website’s operator to get relevant details. We cannot block the website, but will ask the operator to remove objectionable content.”
Leone’s husband Daniel Weber, who owns a production house, said he learnt of the case online. “People can file whatever they want. If there is a case, our attorney will deal with it.”
