BENGALURU: A police complaint has been filed against the organisers of the recently-concluded Comic Con 2018 after at least one child who attended the event over the weekend was handed a ‘welcome bag’ containing a copy of a comic book with adult content.
The shocker came out in the open after the mother of an eight-year-old girl wrote on the social media that her daughter received a copy of Saga, a space fantasy comic book meant for young adults, that featured sexually explicit and gory content.
The mother, Debjani Aich, a corporate lawyer, has filed a complaint with the Baiyappanahalli police. “They have filed an FIR under the POCSO (Protection of Children from Sexual Offences) Act and Section 293 that pertains to distribution of obscene material to children,” she told The New Indian Express.
An official statement from the communications team of Comic Con India, which organised the event at KTPO Trade and Convention Centre, Whitefield, on November 17-18, said, “We sincerely apologise for the inadvertent mix-up that has occurred at Bengaluru Comic Con 2018. In almost seven years of our show, we have never had such a thing happen. We as an organisation neither support nor promote such content for the underage audience.”
While the girl’s shocked mother, Debjani Aich, came out with her experience on Facebook, there is no way to estimate how many other children have received similar content.
“Notwithstanding the creative and artistic merits of the book, it has graphic, sexual content with violence and explicit language which is not appropriate for minors. There is no disclaimer on it. Go ahead and sell it to adults! My daughter said there are bad words in it and that she did not feel like reading it. She has been participating in cosplays for the past three years,” Debjani said. Among other age-inappropriate content, Saga features characters portrayed in the nude, a sex position and a male character biting off the umbilical cord of a newborn.
After Debjani posted her experience on Facebook, parents were shocked by the explicit material handed freely at Comic Con over the counter to unsuspecting kids.
At the event, visitors were given a wrist band, and later when they handed in their online passes, a ‘welcome bag’, at least one of which contained the copy of Saga, a fantasy comic book series written by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples. It is heavily influenced by Star Wars, but is meant for adults.
“Comic Con is the most popular entertainment event and my daughter’s fourth year going there. I’m shattered, and hope more parents will come forward as witnesses and support me. This will be a case of State vs Comic Con,” Debjani said.