Daijiworld Special Correspondent in Panaji (RS)
- NGO campaigning against tobacco menace serves legal notice on Shah Rukh Khan
- Rest of the smokers, please take NOTE !
Panaji, Oct 26: The National Organization for Tobacco Eradication (NOTE), a prominent anti-tobacco NGO, on Friday slapped a legal notice on film star Shah Rukh Khan for smoking in public during the two recent events – Twenty20 cricket match and Hindustan Times summit.
NOTE, which is already fighting a legal battle with megastar Amitabh Bacchan for his posters of cigar-smoking, issued the legal notice through its lawyer to Khan.
The NGO has warned Khan of a legal suit for promoting smoking and smoking in public places which is banned under Anti-tobacco Act. The notice is under section 4 and 5 (3) of Cigarette and other tobacco products (prohibition of advertisements and regulation of trade and commerce, production, supply and distribution) Act, 2003.
"Images of Shah Rukh Khan inhaling the dreaded smoke were shown on Doordarshan during its telecast of recently concluded Twenty20 cricket match in Mumbai on October 20. The national Television channel should choose to telecast such outrageous images is another act worthy of condemnation," NOTE general secretary Dr Shekhar Salkar stated.
Prior to this incident, Khan was shown sitting on the dais with a smouldering cigarette in his hand. This was during the prestigious Hindustan Times summit held in Delhi on October 12 and 13. These acts show the much-acclaimed actor and icon in very poor light, NOTE stated.
A superstar, imitated and adored by millions cannot lend a helping hand to the spread of the dreaded disease, Salkar added.
NOTE has condemned that Khan’s act as illegal, indecent and unethical.
Incidentally, the notice to Khan comes on the day of release of Anurag Kashyap-directed and John Abraham-starring film "No Smoking". The film depicts the hazardous effects of tobacco consumption.
"The sufferings of not only the addict, but those of his kin are passionately portrayed in the film and the director should be applauded for making a film with time-relevant social message," Salkar, a cancer surgeon by profession, stated.
He said that the message of the film acquires credence in the face of the fact that annually 10,00,000 Indians succumb to various respiratory and cardiac diseases, the most dreaded being cancer, due to tobacco.
"Tobacco-related cancer itself contributes to 40 per cent of new cancer cases in India. Most of these patients undergo an agonizing phase resulting into untimely deaths and sufferings, at the tender age of 30 to 50 which is prime time for any individual," NOTE added.