Mumbai Feb 25 PTI The Bombay High Court on Friday refused to grant any protection from arrest or coercive action to filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar in a case related to showing obscene scenes involving minors in a Marathi movie The Mumbai police had earlier this week lodged an FIR against Manjrekar and other makers of the film Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha under provisions of the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences POCSO Act Manjrekar on Friday filed a petition in the High Court seeking for the case to be quashed and sought interim protection from arrest A division bench headed by Justice S S Shinde however refused to pass any order and adjourned hearing in the petition to February 28 The recently released film allegedly contains sexually explicit content involving minors The filmmakers lawyer Shirish Gupte argued that the aim of the POCSO Act was to save and protect children their body and mind In the film nothing has really happened to the boys It is just a creation of art The scenes shown in the trailer were never part of the film And the trailer was removed from YouTube Gupte said He further told the court that the case did not require custodial interrogation Assistant public prosecutors Madhvi Mhatre and Sangeeta Shinde opposed the petition and said An FIR has been lodged at Mahim police station There are serious allegations against the accused under the POCSO Act Hearing this the bench said We cannot give a blanket protection PTI SP ARU ARU

Mumbai Jan 27 PTI A complaint was filed against filmmaker Mahesh Manjrekar in a court here on Thursday for allegedly portraying women and children in an objectionable manner his latest Marathi film The Kshatriya Maratha Seva Sanstha filed a complaint before the Bandra metropolitan magistrate court seeking action against Manjrekar under sections 292 sale etc of obscene content 295 punishment for obscene acts or words in public 34 common intention of the IPC and Indecent Representation of the Women Prohibition Act Apart from Manjrekar the complainant has also named Narendra and Shreyans Hirawat and NH Studioz who are producers of the film Nay Varan Bhat Loncha Kon Nay Koncha as accused in the case The complaint filed through advocate D V Saroj states that the Marathi film which was released in cinema halls and OTT platforms on January 14 shows sexually explicit content depicting women and children in highly objectionable ways The complainant claimed that the content had caused disharmony in the society resulting in protests throughout Maharashtra The movie features actors Prem Dharmadhikari Chhaya Kadam Shashank Shende and Kashmera Shah As per the complaint the movie is based on a story written by late Jayant Pawar and revolves around two teenage boys who grow up facing deprivation and brutality and become hardcore criminals The matter will be heard on February 28 PTI AVI ARU ARU