The Maharashtra State Commission for Child Rights (MSCCR) has asked police to file an FIR against Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan for using foul language in the presence of children after an IPL match at Wankhede Stadium in 2012.
"A.N. Tripathi, Secretary, MSCCR issued the orders two days ago (March 18) to investigate the matter after registering an FIR under relevant provisions of the Indian Penal Code and Juvenile Justice (Care and Protection) Act 2000 (as amended 2006), Sec. 23 and submit a copy to the Commission," Abha Singh, an activist-lawyer pursuing the matter, told IANS.
"An enquiry has also been ordered for not registering the FIR in the matter."
Singh said in view of the commission orders, police would have to file the FIR against Khan for hurling filthy abuses in public, threats, assaulting on-duty public servants and illegal assembly.
Besides, the state home department must immediately launch a detailed probe into why the FIR was not registered in the matter, she added.
On May 16, 2012, Khan got into an ugly spat with officials of the Mumbai Cricket Association (MCA) after an IPL match between Mumbai Indians and Kolkata Knight Riders here.
MCA officials had alleged that Khan engaged in fisticuffs with some security personnel and when they intervened, he threatened them. He was also hurling dirty abuses in the presence of small children.
Mumbai Police had registered a non-cognisable offence against Khan and three others and the actor was banned from entering the MCA premises for five years by a panel headed by late union minister Vilasrao Deshmukh.
Social activist Amit Maru had lodged the first complaint with the MSCCR as the matter was serious and infringed the United Nations Convention on the Rights of Child, Singh said.
In the complaint, Singh said Maru detailed the law with reference to acts where filthy abuses would mentally hurt a child and the act tantamounted to cruelty to children.
"After months of efforts, ultimately justice is prevailing on Khan who seriously violated rights of small children by uttering very dirty abuses before such innocent children in the Wankhede brawl matter," Singh said.
"He could run away from justice because police who ought to have complied with the law violated that very law which it was required to implement."
Singh said: "Hence, it is of outmost necessity that law need to takes its course exactly the way our law-makers contemplated."