Raajneeti row: Court asks police to file FIR

Jaipur, Jun 17: A local court has intervened in the piracy controversy involving Rajasthan unit of Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and has asked the police to file a First Information Report (FIR) against the MLAs, who watched the pirated version of the new Bollywood movie, Raajneeti.

The state unit of BJP had locked down its MLAs in a hotel over the past few days to prevent cross voting in the Rajya Sabha Polls. On Tuesday, Jun 15, a pirated DVD of the Prakash Jha film was screened. The incident came to light with the director reacted to the incident questioning how 'lawmakers can be lawbreakers' and considered taking legal action against the legislators.

On a complaint filed by a man, identified as Yogendra Singh, against the MLAs for violation of the copyright and other acts, the Chief Judicial Magistrate, Seema Juneja on Thursday, Jun 17, directed the police to file an FIR.

The complainant, Singh, has levelled charges against the hotel owner and others besides the BJP MLAs and the party's whip Rajender Singh Rathore, citing that none of the above mentioned had not taken any permission for screening of the movie.

"As it is the exceptional case of cognisable offence for violating the Indian Copy Right Act 1957, Information Technology Act, and Rajasthan Video Film Exhibition Act, 1991, any person can take up the legal procedure against those who allegedly violated by viewing movie released just two weeks ago," the petitioner claimed.

When asked about the row and the court's directions, Rajasthan Chief Minister Ashok Gehlot left the matter to the law.

"I respect the court's order and the law should take its own course," he said.

OneIndia News