Businessman Raj Kundra is an accused in a case of making pornographic films
Businessman Raj Kundra's lawyer has objected to classifying content as pornography in a police case on pornographic films, in which he is an accused. His lawyer, Abad Ponda, made this argument in court on Tuesday. Raj Kundra, the husband of actor Shilpa Shetty, was arrested on Monday by the Mumbai Police, who said he appears to be the "key conspirator" in the case involving pornographic filmmaking and publishing them in apps.
Mr Ponda said it is incorrect to apply Section 67A of the Information Technology Act on sending obscene material in electronic form with sections in the Indian Penal Code that deal with pornography, since these laws consider "actual intercourse" as porn - and anything else is just vulgar content.
"The IT Act sections can't be read with IPC sections, but here police has done this. Section 67A of IT Act talks about sexually explicit acts. Only the actual... intercourse can be considered porn. Rest all is just vulgar content," Mr Ponda said.
"Police is following what web series are doing these days - vulgar content. But that's not really classified as porn. Nothing in this remand shows that two people actually indulged in act of intercourse. If it's not actual intercourse, it's not classified as porn," Mr Ponda said.
Raj Kundra had sought anticipatory bail in the case. He is allegedly involved in the streaming of pornographic videos through an app called "Hotshots", the Mumbai Police told the court on Tuesday. He was sent to police custody till Friday in the scandal.
"Police custody should be an exception and not a norm. Arrest should be made only when the investigation cannot move further without the arrest. In this case, the accused was made to join investigation once he was arrested. The arrest wasn't made as per law," Raj Kundra's lawyer said.
The police said it had sufficient evidence against Raj Kundra. They have also clarified that investigations have revealed no active role of Shilpa Shetty.
Eleven people have been arrested so far in the case. Mr Kundra's close aide Ryan Thorpe, who looked after his company's IT, was arrested on Tuesday.
Actor Gehna Vasisth, out on bail, said she was wrongly arrested in the case. "Those videos are just adult videos - erotica. None of them fall under the category of porn," she said.
The case was filed in February after a raid in a bungalow in Madh Island near Mumbai, where a pornographic film was allegedly being shot, according to the police. A woman who the police found during the raid became the complainant in the case.