Case registered against cinema owner in Rajpura for screening unapproved political advertisement

A few days after Punjab chief election officer (CEO) Sibin C has sought report over running of a promotional video advertisement, with government logo and Punjab chief minister’s appearance, in a cinema at Rajpura of Patiala district, the deputy commissioner Patiala has taken action and got registered the case against the owner and manager of Prime Cinema Rajpura and against a cinema network for screening of political promotional advertisement.
The case has been registered at Rajpura sadar police station under section 188 (Disobedience to order duly promulgated by public servant) and 177 (knowing furnishing false information to public servant) of Indian Penal Code (IPC) on the complaint of RTI activist Manik Goyal who recently had brought into the notice of the Election Commission about the state government’s political advertisement being run in the cinemas and promoting AAP with state’s resources thus violating the model code of conduct.
The report in this matter was sought by CEO Punjab on Saturday from Patiala deputy commissioner and secretary public relations.
Notably, after the meeting of MCMC, the committee observed that the display of uncertified political advertisement, after the imposition of MCC, without any authorization from any political party or candidate or government department is a violation of Election Commission of India (ECI) guidelines regarding pre-certification of political advertisement. The committee also observed that content of advertisement haven’t been approved or pre-certified by it, and that the cinema owner and managers and the company too had failed to produce any authorization from any government department or officer or political party or candidate in this regard.
Manik, who claimed that video of displayed advertisement was recorded on April 6 at Prime Cinema Rajpura, on Monday posted on his ‘X’ account, “On my complaint, an FIR has been registered against the cinema owner & movie distribution company. However,there are still questions that need to be investigated. Even after 20 days of the commencement of the Model Code of Conduct, ads of @bhagwantmann govt were playing in cinemas across Punjab. I tweeted a video of Rajpura cinema playing these ads & also lodged a complaint with the @TheCEOPunjab. Now, an FIR has been registered only against the owner of Prime Cinema & movie distribution company 'Cube Cinema'."
He added,"They have absolved the @BhagwantMann govt, stating they did not instruct them to play the ads after the code of conduct was initiated. However the question arises: why would a cinema owner or distribution company play ads without payment or without orders from the government or ruling party, even after 20 days of the code of conduct being in effect? The movie 'Crew', in which the ad was playing, was released on March 29th, while the code of conduct began on March 16th. They cannot claim the ad was preadded and forgotten to be removed. A thorough investigation into this matter should be conducted.”