Case registered against Comic Con India for distributing comics with explicit content

BENGALURU: At an annual event that was held in Bangalore, a private firm had distributed comic books that were containing explicit adult content to the students under the age group of 6 to 18 years, following which the Byappanahalli police have filed a case against the event organiser.

As per the parents, these comic books were being distributed during the 7th edition of Comic Con, the annual comic festival organized by Comic Con India (CCI) in Bangalore on the 17th and 18th of November at KTPO Convention Centre, Whitefield.

Children who had purchased the tickets for the event on both days and were presented with a goodie bag which was containing a comic book and a poster, along with a kit which was comprised with a badge, a T-shirt and a notebook. The parents, though, found the contents of the comic to be objectionable, the saga epic space opera/fantasy comic book series, which is written by Brian K Vaughan, an American author, with illustrations by Fiona Staples. 

In a statement, the communications team, of Comic Con India said that “We sincerely apologize for the inadvertent mix- up 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 an underage audience.”

Anamika Iyengar, a resident of Indiranagar and mother of a 16-year-old girl who attended the event, said that “On Thursday morning, while cleaning the house, I checked the kit my daughter had got and was shocked to see the images in the book which were downright adult and porn.”

Anamika instantly had an email sent to the CCI seeking an explanation. The email, states that as part of the freebies distributed at the event, there were magazines/comic books that carried explicit adult content.

Anamika wrote, “To put it plainly, the content was pornographic in nature!! I am a fortunate parent as my child had carelessly thrown the packets (along with these magazines) aside and left it to me to put away the bags. Imagine my horror when I casually flipped through the magazine and found adult, pornographic content in one of these magazines!!”

The chairperson of the Karnataka State Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) Mariswamy Y said that they’d look into the matter. Police officials said, if needed, they will also add Pocso provisions during the course of the probe.