No objectionable content in docu film, police tell Madras HC

Madurai: The police on Wednesday told the Madurai bench of the Madras High court that there was no objectionable content in the documentary film 'Kakoos' as alleged by a member of Puthiya Tamizhagam (PT) party.

The documentary film maker K. Divya Bharathi had filed a petition in the High court bench here seeking to quash an FIR against her at Othakadai police station based on the complaint filed by the member.

The complaint who belongs to ‘Devandrakula Vellalar’ community alleged that Divya had depicted the members of his community as involved in manual scavenging in the film, and that message could create enmity between two groups of people. The police had registered an FIR against Divya on August 3, under section 153 (A) and 505 (1) (b) of Indian Penal code r/w section 66 F of Information Technology Act, 2000.

When the case came up for hearing today, the public prosecutor appearing for the police informed the court that a review of the documentary film revealed that there was no objectionable content in the movie.

Advocate T Lajapathi Roy who appeared for Divya, said that the allegation made in the FIR or the complaint, even if they were taken at their face value and accepted in their entirety does not prima facie constitute any offence or make a case against her.

Recording the arguments, Justice V Bharathidasan passed an interim order staying the police investigation for four weeks and directed the investigation officer to file the counter.

Earlier, the petitioner's counsel told the court Divya had documented the people belonging to SC (Arunthathiyar), SC (Pariyar) and SC ( Devandrakula Vellalar) communities who were involved in the work of manual scavenging. Moreover, it was not the words of the petitioner, but it was government data stating that members belonging to SC (Devandrakula Vellalar) were involved in the work and people belonging to that community also stated that in the film.

“It was recorded by Divya what they had stated and it was not stated with intention to create enmity between groups,” said Roy and added that she produced the documentary film with the sole intention to create awareness among the public against the social sin and to draw the attention of the government about widespread prevalence of manual scavenging, despite
the government having enacted the Employment of Manual Scavengers and Construction of Dry Latrines (Prohibition) Act 1993, to abolish this practice.