The Bombay High Court on Wednesday observed that watching an obscene film at a private residence does not constitute an offence. The court quashed the criminal case under section 292 (public exhibition of obscene material) of the Indian Penal Code against 22 customs officials. They were arrested in 2008 for throwing a rave party in a Lonavala bungalow. Quashing the FIR and court proceedings against the officials,Justice VK Tahilramani said,The act of the accused of privately viewing the obscene film on a laptop does not amount to public exhibition. Therefore,the act of the accused does not constitute an offence under section 292 of IPC. The clause a of sub section (2) of the section makes it very clear that without proving the purpose of the possession a person cannot be convicted. Acting on a tip-off,police had raided the bungalow in Lonavala in the early hours of August 27,2008. They arrested 40 people,including two DJs,four organisers of the party,a driver and the caretaker of the bungalow. Counsel for the accused Advocate Samir Vadiya said,The court has quashed the proceedings against my clients and given us liberty to move a separate petition for quashing the proceedings initiated under the Bombay Police Act. It was later established that the owner of the bungalow had bought it only a couple of days prior to the party and did not have any role to play. The charges under the Bombay Police Act were slapped on the accused since the police found several bottles of foreign liquor being served without permit. The police had also seized Rs 55,000 in cash from the spot. According to the prosecution,there were currency notes strewn all over the place at the time of the raid. Prosecution said it was obvious that those attending the party had thrown them at the dancers. Justice Tahilramani said it was not even that anyone from the public could walk into it at any point. Hence,it cannot be said that there was any public exhibition of obscene films in the bungalow, the judge said.
