Sushree Mohanty
The Supreme Court made strict observations on Over The Top (OTT) stages, stating that some sort of screening is required for the media. The court’s opinion came in light of the hearing of the petition moved by Amazon India head Aparna Purohit.
“Few OTT platforms are showing some kind of pornographic content,” Justice Ashok Bhushan observed.
Purohit has contended the Allahabad High Court’s order which dismissed her petition for anticipatory bail concerning a criminal case registered against the web series ‘Tandav’.
The Supreme Court listed the case for further hearing and directed the Centre to submit its response on the guidelines of the Over The Top platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime.
“A balance must be struck as some Over The Top media are likewise showing explicit materials on their platform,” the bench of judges including Justice R S Reddy, stated.
Contending against the High Court’s order of rejecting the pre-arrest bail plea, Mukul Rohatgi, appearing on behalf of Purohit submitted that she is neither the actor nor a producer of the said series, and yet at the same time she has been made an accused in the matter.
Rohatgi additionally called that the case was “shocking”.
‘Tandav’ which debuted on Amazon Prime has been embroiled in various debates and caused numerous controversies since its release.
A plea was recorded against the producers and entertainers for mocking the Hindu gods and hurting the religious sentiments.
They were additionally accused of showing the Uttar Pradesh Police in terrible light. Numerous objections – including three First Information Reports (FIRs) have been filed in Uttar Pradesh against Purohit, director Ali Abbas Zafar, Himanshu Kishan Mehra the producer for ‘Tandav’ and others.
Earlier the Uttar Pradesh Police team had interrogated the producers regarding the case.
The nine-episode-long web series features Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Tigmanshu Dhulia, and others.
