A public interest litigation (PIL) in the Bombay High Court on Monday prayed for contempt action against actor Suniel Shetty and 22 film bodies for reportedly calling a Bollywood shutdown tomorrow and signature campaign to demand minimum punishment for co-actor Sanjay Dutt who has been convicted under Arms Act in 1993 bomb blast case.

The bench headed by Chief Justice H S Bedi adjourned the PIL to January 24 for hearing.

The PIL, filed by city advocate Anil Bugde, urged for a direction to the registrar general of the high court to initiate suo motu contempt proceedings against Shetty who had given a call for Bollywood shutdown in a section of the media and also launched signature campaign for the actor.

Relying upon newspaper reports, Bugde contended that actor Shetty's call for shutdown and signature campaign amounted to direct interference in judicial process as the court had already held Sanjay guilty under Arms Act and was slated to give punishment to him in near future.

The PIL also urged for a direction to centre and state government to frame rules or lay down guidelines to restrain print and electronic media from releasing such information which amounted to interference with judicial process.

Bugde cited media reports to contend that the shutdown call even persuaded taximen and restaurant owners to join the movement to support Sanjay. This he said amounted to contempt of court.

The petitioner also wrote a letter to TADA court mentioning that he had filed a PIL on the issue.

Sanjay Dutt had appealed to the people on Saturday not to launch signature campaign in his support and said he had persuaded Suniel Shetty to refrain from such move.

source:zeenews