The Hindu : Front Page : Summons to Amitabh in anti-tobacco case

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Wednesday, Nov 22, 2006
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Summons to Amitabh in anti-tobacco case

Special Correspondent

An NGO takes him and four others to court for an ad featuring him

PANAJI: A Judicial Magistrate First Class (JMFC) court here on Monday issued summons to mega star Amitabh Bachchan and four others to be present in the court on November 29 for breaching the provisions of the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997 and the Central anti-tobacco promotion legislation.

The criminal suit was filed on January 25 by the National Organisation of Tobacco Eradication (NOTE-India), an anti-tobacco NGO. Mr. Bachchan had appeared in a promo posing with a cigar, the hoardings of which were displayed in Goa and other parts of the country.

The case was filed by General Secretary of NOTE (India) Dr. Shekhar Salkar, cancer surgeon, against Mr. Keshu Ramsay, DMS Films Pvt. Ltd., Anchor Daewoo India Ltd., Amitabh Bachchan Corporation Ltd. (ABCL), and Mr. Bachchan, all from Mumbai.

The complaint filed against the five parties under Section 190(1)(a) of the Cr.P.C. for having committed offences under Section 5(1) and 5(3) of the Cigarettes and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Act, 2003 and Section 7 of the Goa Prohibition of Smoking and Spitting Act, 1997 objected to a multi-coloured hoarding styled as "Family" showing Mr. Bachchan smoking a cigar and endorsing the electrical appliances of "Anchor" was displayed on national highway 17 in the State as well as various other places in the country. The complainant said the hoarding also had displayed the name of the company by name AB Corporation Ltd., in which Mr. Bachchan is a Managing Director.

The complainant said by the display of the hoarding and by taking part in the said advertisement the accused have directly or indirectly suggested and promoted the use and consumption of the cigar, which is a tobacco product violating the provisions of the law.

Dr. Salkar has stated in his complaint that on January 5 last he wrote to Mr. Bachchan seeking his clarification in respect of the offence and also sent a legal notice to him upon which Mr. Bachchan wrote back on January 9 expressing regrets for the offence but tried to pass the buck to the other accused.

Simultaneously, DMS Films wrote to him expressing regrets for having displayed the hoarding and stated that they had taken action for removing such hoardings.

However, after finding that the hoardings in Goa only were removed and not in other parts of the country (till the time of the court case), he decided to go ahead with the court case.

In reply to a question on Tuesday, Dr. Salkar openly admitted that NOTE (India) would get a lot of mileage for the case due to Mr. Bachchan's iconic stature. His contention was that the cause of anti-tobacco drive would get a major boost because people would get the message loud and clear about the serious offences involved in the anti-tobacco legislation which otherwise nobody was found taking seriously.

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