Calcutta HC quashes plea by BJP leader against Koffee With Karan for ‘sexual, racist comments’ – The Indian Express

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

Incidentally, Khan had filed by a PIL before the Calcutta High Court earlier this year seeking prohibition on the screening of Laal Singh Chaddha in West Bengal, alleging that the movie starring Aamir Khan and Kareena Kapoor could cause a breach of peace.

In its order on December 5, the Calcutta High Court said, “Having, regard to nature of controversy involved in the matter, we find that object of filing the present Public Interest Litigation is to gain publicity…”

“… It is noticed that the petitioner has not stated anywhere in the writ petition that she had watched the talk show in question. The petition is based upon some newspaper reports. It is also noticed that the petitioner has referred to the talk show between 2004 to 2019 whereas, the writ petition has been filed on 6th of September, 2022. 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,” the court said.

Koffee with Karan is a popular chat show which has been on air since 2004. Season 7 released earlier this year on Disney Plus Hotstar. It has featured several prominent celebrities over the years, including Shah Rukh Khan, Amitabh Bachchan, Alia Bhatt and Deepika Padukone. The show has time and again been in the news due to candid and upfront revelations made by the celebs.