Actor and model Milind Soman has been booked for obscenity after he uploaded a photograph of himself running in the buff on a beach in south Goa.
The south Goa Superintendent of Police Pankaj Kumar Singh confirmed that the actor was booked under section 294 (obscenity) of the Indian Penal Code, along with other relevant sections of the Information Technology Act.
On November 4, Soman had uploaded a photo on Twitter which showed him running naked on a Goa beach on his 55th birthday. The actor captioned the picture, clicked against the wide expanse of the ocean, as “Happy Birthday to me…55 and running”.
There has been no comment from the actor on the FIR against him.
The FIR comes even as the Canacona judicial magistrate granted model and actress Poonam Pandey bail, observing that all nudity didn’t amount to obscenity. The model was arrested on Thursday for shooting an “objectionable” video in Goa.
“It is important to note that when such representation is in pursuance of art, it is an exception. Making of films obviously is an artistic endeavour and even if it was otherwise, determination of the same would be a matter of trial. One cannot, given the facts and circumstances, come to a conclusion that all nudity is obscene,” the magistrate said.
“When it comes to fundamental rights of an individual, which are sacrosanct, especially the right to free speech and expression, which constitutes an essential foundation of a democracy and without which life itself would be meaningless, acting in a video or film, which may be perceived by some as obscene and yet some others may perceive it as artistic, cannot be a ground to jail a person, especially where the acts complained of have been documented on film,” Chief Judicial Magistrate Audi Shanoor said.
