Court frees 75-yr-old of ‘obscenity’ tag in Mumbai

Almost 15 years after he was booked in a case of ‘obscenity’, 71-year-old Harkishan Chhatlani is finally breathing easy. Taking note of a total failure on the part of the Social Service Branch of Mumbai police to prove a case of alleged obscenity against the South Mumbai-based senior citizen, a magistrate’s court acquitted him of all charges early this week.

Chhatlani was booked by the Social Service Branch in July 1995, for allegedly importing American magazines, which allegedly contained obscene photos of a man and woman resembling a Hindu god and goddess in the nude.

Chhatlani, owner and partner of India Book Distributors at Nariman Point, was also charged with intent to insult the sentiments of Hindus by deliberately distributing copies of the magazines.

Addition chief metropolitan magistrate M J Mirza, while acquitting Chhatlani, noted, “It is the duty of the court to consider the obscene matter by taking an overall view of the work and to determine whether the obscene photographs are likely to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to such influences and in whose hands the book is likely to fall into. In doing so, one must not overlook the influence of the book on our society. If there is reference to sex, which by itself is considered obscene, then no book can be stored except those that are purely religious.”

“The prosecution has not proved that the accused is either the printer, publisher or distributor of the magazine. They even failed to bring the photograph on record,” said Chhatlani’s lawyer Ashish Chavan.