Dussehra fest: No obscenity, says Madras HC while directing police to allow artistes to perform

Chennai (Tamil Nadu) [India], September 27 (ANI): The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court Monday directed the police to allow cultural groups to hold events during the Dussehra festival in Kulasekarapattinam in Thoothukudi district on the conditions that no obscene or vulgar performances are allowed and all the programmes are video graphed by the respective event organisers.
The division bench of Justices R Mahadevan and J Sathya Narayana Prasad said the police should take action if they find event organisers or the performers indulging in vulgarity.
The court's direction came on a public interest litigation (PIL) by V Kannan, secretary of a group named Sri Ambikai Dasara Kuzhu that wanted to hold Dussehra events. In his plea, Kannan alleged that local authorities were not permitting cine and TV artists to perform during the festival, citing the court's recent order which had said that no obscene programmes should be held during the festival.
The court clarified that its recent order was only for obscene and vulgar dance performances.
The bench also directed the petitioner to deposit a demand draft of Rs 10,000 in favour of the Mutharamman temple administration to cover the cost of video recording the programmes. A proof of the same should be submitted before the police with an undertaking that the participants will not exhibit obscenity. (ANI)