Police register FIR after parent lodges a complaint

Parents who took their children to the popular Bengaluru Comic Con 2018 over the weekend were horrified when they realised that a graphic novel with explicit adult content had been handed out as freebies. The book was part of a goody bag that was given to visitors with passes who had attended the two-day event on November 17-18.

One parent, Debjani Aich, a corporate lawyer whose daughter attended the event, lodged a police complaint on Thursday. “My eight-year-old daughter told me that there were bad pictures in the comic book. I was shocked when I saw the content, as it was inappropriate for children,” said the parent, adding that it did not have any parental caution.

In her complaint, she has asked the police to talk necessary action and requested them to prevent the organisers from distributing such material to children. The police have registered an FIR against three directors of Comic Con for selling obscene books under Section 292 of the Indian Penal Code. The accused have been identified as Shyam Singh Rawat, Jatin Verma and Grigori Zarayskly.

Ms. Aich and her legal team are hoping that the case is registered as sexual harassment against children, and the organisers are booked under the Protection of Children from Sexual Offences Act, 2012. After the complaint was lodged, the police conducted a spot inspection.

Comic Con, which was held at KTPO Trade and Convention Centre in Whitefield, attracted thousands of children, teenagers and adults. Several parents took to social media to express their anger over the graphic nature of the content and sought an explanation from the organisers. The comic book that was given was Saga by Brian K. Vaughan — an epic space opera/fantasy comic book series.

“We would like to know how the organisers were negligent in handing over such content to children,” said one parent on social media.

Others said that as word spread, they were warned to check the goody bag and ensure that their children did not have access to the comic book.

In a statement to the media, Comic Con India said, “We sincerely apologise for the inadvertent mixup that has occurred at Bengaluru Comic Con 2018. In almost seven years of our show, we have never had such a thing happen. We, as an organisation, neither support nor promote such content for underage audience.”