Madhya Pradesh High Court rejects plea alleging Dainik Bhaskar published ad with nude photo of woman

The Madhya Pradesh High Court on Wednesday upheld a trial court's decision to dismiss a complaint which alleged that the Dainik Bhaskar newspaper in 2012 had published a nude photo of a woman in an advertisement [Nagendra Singh Gaharwar Vs. Manmohan Agrawal].

Justice Achal Kumar Paliwal found that the body parts of the woman actor in the advertisement for promotion of Abbas-Mustan directed 2012 movie 'Players' were blurred.

"Though the body of lady shown in the advertisement does not have any cloths but breast and genitals part are sufficiently blurred. Some words are also written in bold letters on genitals part of the lady," it noted.

The Court thus rejected the claim that the advertisement was designed to excite sexual passions in people.

It ruled that the alleged offences under Section 292 (sale, etc., of obscene books, etc.) and 293 (sale, etc., of obscene objects to young person) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act, 1986, were not made out in the case.

"The breasts as well as genitals part of the lady are not visible at all. In this Court‘s opinion, aforesaid photograph of lady published in Dainik Bhaskar News paper, Rewa, edition has no tendency to deprave or corrupt the minds of people in whose hands the news paper would fall," it added.

One Nagendra Singh Gaharwar, a lawyer, had filed a private complaint in 2012 against the newspaper editor over publication of the picture. The trial court and revisional court declined to take cognizance of the offences, forcing Gaharwar to move the High Court.

In response, the newspaper management argued that the complainant had no locus standi to file the complaint. It was also submitted that the image in question had been blurred in the advertisement.

The High Court found that both the trial and revisional court had discussed the matter in detail and examined the evidence in the light of the settled principles of law.

"No illegality appears to have been committed by the courts in rejecting the complaint/dismissing the revision filed by the petitioner," it added, while dismissing the appeal.

Advocate Nagendra Singh Gaharwar appeared in person.

Advocate Sanjiv Kumar Mishra represented the respondent.

[Read Judgment]