BENGALURU: The organisers of a New Year’s Eve event featuring Bollywood actress Sunny Leone have filed a writ petition in the Karnataka High Court seeking permission to hold the event after the police denied them the same.On Monday, The Time Creations, the advertising agency which has organised the event, filed the petition. The event, named ‘Sunny Night in Bengaluru’, was scheduled to be held on December 31 at White Orchid Convention Centre near Manyata Tech Park at Nagawara.
Police denied permission for the event, citing security issues, after pro-Kannada organisations protested against Leone’s presence at the event, terming it to be against Kannada culture.
The petition states the total expenditure of the event is Rs 2.5 crore, and they would suffer losses in the event of its cancellation. The petitioner is Bhavya, wife of M S Harish, Managing Director of The Time Creations. The respondents to the petition are the Home Affairs Department, Government of Karnataka, the DGP, Karnataka, Commissioner of Police and DCP (North-East).
The petition also claims that Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy made public statement expressing his ‘dislike’ for the event. “Followed by the baseless and mischievous protests, the Home Minister of the state also appears to have made informal public statements disliking the grant of permission to actress Sunny Leone’s event though quoting no justifiable reasons than personal opinions,” the petition states.
The petitioner has asked the court that pending the disposal of the petition, they be permitted to seek necessary clearances for the event from other authorities such as BBMP, Fire department, KSPCB, Traffic Police etc.
“Kindly make an observation that the authorities shall be free to independently consider the request notwithstanding or demanding the police clearance for the time being,” the petition states. It also states that the police have provided ‘false’ security reasons by citing instances of Leone’s appearance in Kerala and the incidents that occurred in the city on last New Year’s Eve.
The petition claims that prior to protests by pro-Kannada organisations, the police had assured them of granting permission to hold the event. It further states that the police have only orally expressed that they would not give permission, and declined to give a written endorsement.Harish told The New Indian Express that when he tried to meet Home Minister Ramalinga Reddy on Monday, he was directed to instead approach Commissioner of Police T Suneel Kumar. The petition is likely to come up for hearing before a vacation bench of the court on Tuesday.