Allahabad: The Allahabad high court on Thursday directed the state government and excise department to prohibit indirect advertisements of liquor on TV, cinema halls, in newspapers, magazines, etc.Allowing a petition filed by an NGO Struggle Against Pain, a division bench comprising Justice Sudhir Agarwal and Justice Ajit Kumar directed police and excise department to take appropriate action to ensure prohibition of such ‘surrogate’ advertisements.In the petition, various advertisements published in magazines and newspapers were placed before the court.The petitioner’s plea was that though advertisements were for publicity of music CDs or glasses, the same was written in very small font and was hardly visible. However, logos of liquor brands were clearly visible in such advertisements.The petitioner further claimed that liquor manufacturing and selling companies were spending huge money on such advertisements. They encourage consumption and sale of their liquor products in a clandestine manner.Advertisements were made in a manner that real products were shown in the form of holograms/monograms, without mentioning the word “liquor” or kind of liquor, in order to escape punishment under law.However, some liquor companies, which were made parties to the petition, defended their act claiming that apart from liquor, companies also produce such products and there is no prohibition in law to advertise such products.

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