“Clippings of the incident will be examined to determine if it was an accident or was done deliberately. We will take action against the people involved and the fashion organisers if investigation proves it was a deliberate act,’’ he said. No, he didn’t want to ban fashion shows, said Patil, all he was concerned about was “maintenance of decency,’’ he said.

Patil’s decision comes after a question raised by a Shiv Sena MLC and leader of the Party Mahila wing, Neelam Gorhe, during Council proceedings today. “It (the Gracias accident) was an obscene act which was beamed again and again on TV channels. The government should take serious note of this,” Gorhe said.

She found support in BJP leader Nitin Gadkari who even asked the government to serve a criminal notice to news channels. ‘‘I have a young son at home who watches television. This is very bad influence on the children,’’ he said.

Encouraged by unstinted support from BJP and Congress, Gorhe promptly read out sections of the CrPC which prevent anyone from making an obscene presentation of a woman’s body and said what happened at the Lakme fashion week was illegal.

Shiv Sena Party chief Uddhav Thackeray said: ‘‘I have given all rights to the Party women wing to take action against anything that goes against the Party ideology. So our woman leader Gorhe raised this issue in the Legislative Council.’’

Designers and Lakme Fashion Week organisers are foxed. “What can we do?” says Anil Chopra, of Lakme. “We cannot interfere with the makers’ designs. That is not our domain.”

... contd.