Bollywood couple Akshay Kumar and Twinkle Khanna have been issued a legal notice for auctioning the naval uniform that the actor wore in 2016 film ‘Rustom’ as they have “played with the sentiments” of those serving in different armed forces. Besides Akshay and Twinkle, the notice has also been served to auction house SaltScout, which has put out the naval officer uniform for online bidding. Till Wednesday, the highest bid offered for the uniform was Rs 2,35,000. The auction closes on May 26.
“Nobody has ever auctioned an original naval uniform. After this many said that this shouldn’t have happened. They have played with the sentiments of armed forces personnel,” Smita Dikshit, the lawyer who has sent the notice.
“Celebrities get to wear the uniform for a three-hour movie and then they think they have got a blatant right to auction that uniform and compromise national security,” she said.
“In the notice, we have informed them that you cannot auction anything related to the armed forces. Despite all this, the auction is still live. So, we have given them seven days time to put it down otherwise we will move to the concerned court,” Dikshit added.
On April 26, Twinkle posted information about the auction on Instagram claiming that the money raised from the auction would be used for social causes.
The legal notice says that the “uniforms resembling those of armed forces pose potential threat to to national security as the said uniform, insignia and badges could pass for genuine service clothing and can find their way to anti-national elements who can use it to foment trouble.”
The notice also states that after the Pathankot attack, “Indian Army had issued guidelines urging civilians across the country to avoid wearing army pattern dresses and shopkeepers were asked to not sell combat clothes, uniforms and equipments as it is ‘illegal to do so’. Thus, by putting the naval officer uniform for auction you have shown disrespect to national interest and have hurt the sentiments of armed force personnel.”
