Date:02/02/2008 URL: http://www.thehindu.com/2008/02/02/stories/2008020255480600.htm

Andhra Pradesh

GMC orders removal of offending advertisements

Staff Reporter

GUNTUR: Guntur Municipal Corporation has suo motu initiated action against the large hoardings put up by Kalamandir, a cloth showroom to be inaugurated in the city on Friday, asking it to remove them that were offending the prestige of women.

Municipal Commissioner Siddhartha Jain on Friday evening asked Managing Director Prasad of Kalamandir Prasad to remove all its offending advertisements immediately or face criminal action. The showroom had distributed some pamphlets and invitations to people in the city and given advertisements in the print media in colour showing the hour-glass figure of a woman with her entire back naked except for a small band as a strap of a blouse.

The officials of Kalamandir management had approached the Commissioner seeking exemption, but he stood firm on this stand. The AIDWA district vice-president D. Rama Devi and Secretary Anila in a statement on Friday said that they strongly opposed the putting up of the hoarding especially opposite Government Women’s College. The AIDWA office bearers B. Sudha Kiran and Aruna said that they would meet on Saturday and decide on the future course of action on such advertisements.