Relief for Dhanush: Madras high court says no need to appear in person – Times of India

CHENNAI: In a reprieve to actor Dhanush, the Madras high court dispensed with his personal appearance before a city magistrate court in connection with a criminal complaint registered against him for failing to display disclaimers against smoking in Tamil movie ‘VIP’ released in 2014.
Justice N Sathish Kumar passed the order on Monday, while admitting a plea moved by Danush challenging the proceeding before the magistrate court.
According to the petitioner, the complaint filed against him under the Cigarette and Other Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commerce, Production Supply and Distribution) Act, was not maintainable as the provisions were applicable only for advertisements by manufacturers, suppliers or distributors of tobacco products.
None of the provisions can be used against the producer of a film or the artists therein unless the alleged scene was an advertisement for a tobacco product. The depiction of a person smoking in a cinema requires a health disclaimer as a part of censorship regulations. Such disclaimers having been put to the prosecution launched by the committee is wholly unsustainable, he said.
Even the IPC does not contain any provision for attaching vicarious liability on the part of the managing director or the directors of a company when the accused is the company, he added.