Bombay High Court relief for Karan Johar in AIB row

The Bombay High Court on Friday restrained the police from taking coercive action against filmmaker Karan Johar in an FIR registered against him for allegedly using obscene and abusive language during the AIB Roast event held in the city.

A division bench of justices Ranjit More and Anuja Prabhudessai restrained the police from taking any action till March 16.

The court had last week restrained the Pune police from taking any coercive action against 14 people, including filmmaker Karan Johar and actors Arjun Kapoor and Ranveer Singh, for allegedly using obscene and abusive language during the event.

Arguing for Johar, advocate Ashutosh Kumbhkoni said relief was granted in a similar petition.

The FIR was filed in Mumbai based on a private complaint by one Santosh Daundkar.

The court has now tagged the petition and directed the state to file its reply.

The Tardeo police station has registered a case primarily against 14 people, including the president of the National Sports Club of India (NSCI) Jayantilal Shah, NSCI general secretary Ravinder Aggarwal, organisers of the AIB Roast, Karan Johar, Ranveer Singh, Rohan Joshi, Tanmay Bhat, Gursimran Khamba, Ashish Shakya, Aditi Mittal, Deepika Padukone, Alia Bhatt, Rajeev Masand and Arjun Kapoor.

The petitions will now come up for hearing on March 16.