Days after Raj Kundra was arrested on charges of producing pornographic films, actress Shilpa Shetty has come out in defence of her husband, reported Mid-Day.
While quoting a police official, the Indian daily, stated, “Shilpa Shetty said that the movies available on Hotshot are not pornography but erotica. She also said that nowadays, similar content is available on the various OTT platforms, and in fact, some are more obscene than what is available on Hotshot”. According to Mid-Day, she had denied her involvement in the production of the contentious videos.
On Friday (July 23), the Mumbai police raided the residence of the couple in Juhu for over 6 hours and recovered several electronic gadgets. While Shilpa Shetty has come out in defence of her husband, Raj Kundra alleged that the production of the ‘videos’ was being handled by his brother-in-law Pradeep Bakshi from London. Reportedly, the duo communicated only through Whatsapp. However, the police have refused to buy his argument.
A police official informed, “We have enough evidence that he (Raj Kundra) was dealing with everything, his brother-in-law was made the owner of the London-based company just for namesake.” Interestingly, the Mumbai Police Crime Branch did not find the direct involvement of Shilpa Shetty with the production of pornographic videos. The cops interrogated the actress for several hours about her decision to quit Viaan Industries in 2020. It is suspected that the decision was influenced by the impending legal obstacles due to connections between Hotshot and Viaan Industries.
Lawyer of Raj Kundra dismisses the pornography angle
During the remand hearing on Friday, advocate Abad Ponda representing Raj Kundra argued that the video content did not fall under the category of pornography. He said, “The videos don’t show the ‘actual act of coitus’ or ‘actual act of intercourse, hence they can’t be considered pornographic. OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon have similar content. Shows like Sex life and Four Shots have similar content. I don’t understand why Mumbai police are going after Kundra but not after Netflix and Amazon. In India, we don’t follow the ‘Hicklin test of obscenity — the model followed by the UK. We follow the ‘Canadian concept of obscenity.”
According to the Canadian standard of obscenity, no individual shall be prosecuted if he establishes that public good was served by acts that are alleged to have been obscene. Ponda cited the example of Bandit Queen to substantiate his arguments. While the Mumbai police did not challenge the arguments, the Court inquired, “What’s lascivious and what’s not?” The Mumbai police or prosecution did not counter or object to the arguments by Ponda. Besides, Kundra’s lawyers have also moved a petition in the Bombay High Court against the invocation of the Information Technology Act against him.
Arrest of Raj Kundra in pornography case
On July 19, actor Shilpa Shetty’s husband, Raj Kundra, was arrested by Mumbai Police for his alleged role in creating and publishing pornographic films on some mobile applications. As per reports, he had appeared before the Property Cell of Mumbai Police’s Crime Branch for questioning, after which he was placed under arrest. Kundra was taken for medical examination at JJ Hospital in the early hours of Tuesday.
Mumbai Police Commissioner Hemant Nagrale said, “Businessman Raj Kundra has been arrested by the Crime Branch in a case relating to the creation of pornographic films and publishing them through some apps. We have arrested Raj Kundra in this case on July 19, 2021, as he appears to be the key conspirator of this. We have sufficient evidence regarding this. The investigation is in progress, please.” Raj Kundra has been sent to police remand till July 27.
