Calcutta High Court dismisses PIL alleging ‘racism and obscenity’ against Karan Johar’s chat show ‘Koffee with Karan’

New Delhi: Karan Johar’s popular show ‘Koffee with Karan’ has landed in trouble. A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed against the show in the Calcutta High Court alleging that it contains vulgar language and promotes racism and obscenity. A bench of Justices Prakash Srivastava and Rajarshi Bharadwaj dismissed the plea, noting that it was filed to “gain publicity”. 

According to an article in Live Law, “The petitioner has not stated anywhere in the writ petition that she had watched the talk show in question. We find that the object of filing the present public interest petition is to gain the publicity.” 

The plea was filed by BJP leader and advocate Nazia Elahi Khan who sought criminal proceedings against Bollywood director-producer Karan Johan, the host of Koffee With Karan, and Disney Plus Hotstar, on which the latest season airs. 

LiveLaw also reported that, "In the present case, there is nothing on record to ascertain the correctness of the contents especially when the petitioner herself had not watched the show. In the writ petition, though, several instances have been mentioned but it has not been disclosed as to in which episode or on what date such comments were made. The allegations are not supported by cogent materials and from the pleadings in the writ petition, it is also not reflected that any such comment was made in any episode in recent past." 

Meanwhile, on the work front, Karan Johar recently wrapped up his directorial ‘Rocky aur Rani ki Prem Kahani’ which stars Alia Bhatt and Ranveer Singh in the lead. The film marks his return to the director’s chair after ‘Ae Dil Hai Mushkil’ released in 2016.