Organisers of Sunny Leone's New Year show in Bengaluru move HC seeking relief

With the Karnataka government refusing permission to Bollywood actress Sunny Leone's New Year eve show, the organisers have moved the high court, seeking a direction to the authorities to allow the event. The government on December 15 disallowed the show in Bengaluru and elsewhere in the state after protests by Kannada outfits, which said it would be an "assault" on the city's culture.

Event management firm Time Creations said that pending police permission, they were unable to forward requests and submit necessary clearances to various authorities, including city civic body Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike and the fire department.

The firm's proprietress H S Bhavya said in her petition filed yesterday that she had submitted a letter to police to permit the show. Karnataka Rakshana Vedike and other groups had staged protests in the city on December 15, taking out rallies and burning effigies of Leone.

In her petition, Bhavya alleged that on December 16, police orally refused permission, but did not give it in writing. Due to this, every other arrangement and sanction ran into a disaster, resulting in lenders asking the organisers to return their money, fearing the uncertainty, she submitted.

Bhavya also alleged that the protestors are seemingly and by records supposed to be anti-social elements engaged in acts of vandalism and creating of unrest. "Their unfair threats and pressure should not be the driving force for the state police to take such unmindful decisions," she pleaded.