Sushmita Sen falls foul of 'culture-police' in Tamil Nadu

Chennai, Dec 20 (IANS) Former Miss Universe and Bollywood actor Sushmita Sen is the latest star in the crosshairs of culture cops in Tamil Nadu.

The Madurai Bench of the Madras High Court has issued a notice to the actor on a petition that termed her comments propagated through newspapers and television 'lewd'.

Lawyer Girish Kumar, in his petition, said the Tamil newspapers had quoted the actress in a television interview saying: 'No Indian has chastity or virginity any more. Having pre-marital or post-marital affair(s) is nothing wrong in the society nowadays.'

He sought to prosecute the actress under IPC Sections 292, 292B, 293 and 294, (all pertaining to obscenity in print, words and songs), 499 and 500 (which relate to defamation), besides Sections 3, 4 of the Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and 2, 3 and 6 of the Young Persons Harmful Publication Act.

The notice will have to be returned by Jan 7.

This is the second time that film stars have been attacked in Tamil Nadu for 'direct insults to womanhood'. Last year, actors Khushboo, Shilpa Shetty and Reema Sen had been dragged to court.

Warrants were issued against other actors of Bollywood too, but the Madras High Court stayed them. The court has also exempted them from personal appearance.

All the actors have been featured in Hindi and Tamil films.

Khushboo also hosts a popular show aired by some major Tamil channels.