News Analysis India

Tag: Aparna Purohit

  • Tandav row: Amazon Prime head Aparna Purohit appears before SIT again

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Amazon Prime national head Aparna Purohit appeared before the Special Investigation Team (SIT) for the second time late on Monday evening to record her statement in connection with the FIRs lodged against her and others related to the controversy over the ‘Tandav’ web series. 

    She has been asked to appear before the investigation team again on March 18.

    Earlier, Purohit had appeared before the SIT on February 24. As per the highly placed sources, Purohit was asked about 50 questions and directed to come prepared with their answers during her next visit to record her statement.

    The political drama series featuring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Tigmanshu Dhulia, and Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, has been hitting the headlines since its premier owing to its content.

    Two FIRs — one at Hazaratganj police station in Lucknow and the other at Rabubpura police Station in Grater Noida — were lodged against Ali Abbas Jafar and Gaurav Solanki, the director, and writer of the web series ‘Tandav’ respectively, for allegedly depicting Hindu deities in a bad light. The case, registered by SI Amarnath Yadav at Hazaratganj police station on January 18, had also named Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, and other unnamed persons.

    While the FIR lodged on the complaint of one Balbir Azad of Raunija village in Greater Noida on January 19, 2021, had alleged that the series also depicted Uttar Pradesh and its police in a bad light.

    While the Allahabad High Court had rejected the anticipatory bail plea of Purohit on February 25 raising objections on the content of the web series, the Supreme Court, on March 5, 2021, had granted interim protection from arrest to Purohit as she had challenged the Allahabad High Court’s order in the apex court.

    ALSO READ | SC grants Amazon Prime Video India head Aparna Purohit interim protection from arrest

    The SC bench, comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy, had observed that the protection from arrest will be subjected to the petitioner cooperating with the investigation and appearing before the police as and when summoned.

    Aparna Purohit had filed a petition challenging the refusal of pre-arrest bail by the Allahabad High Court on February 25.

    Earlier, while rejecting the anticipatory bail of Purohit, the single judge bench of Justice Siddhartha had come down heavily on the makers of the web series and observed that not only the sentiments of the majority community were hurt by the display of the characters of their faith in a disrespectful manner in the web series but an attempt was also made to widen the chasm between the higher castes and the scheduled castes when the objective of the state is to bridge the gap between the different castes and communities and make the country a united force socially, communally and politically.

    Amazon Prime Video recently had issued an unconditional apology yet again on the issue. Their statement read: “Amazon Prime Video again deeply regrets that viewers considered certain scenes to be objectionable in the recently launched fictional series Tandav. This was never our intention, and the scenes that were objected to were removed or edited when they were brought to our attention. We respect our viewers’ diverse beliefs and apologize unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by these scenes.”

    “Our teams follow company content evaluation processes, which we acknowledge, need to be constantly updated to better serve our audiences. We will continue to develop entertaining content with partners while complying with the laws of India and respecting the diversity of culture and beliefs of our audiences.”

  • OTT norms lack teeth, penal provisions needed, says SC

    By Express News Service
    NEW DELHI:  The Supreme Court on Friday said the Centre’s guidelines to regulate the functioning of digital platforms are weak as they don’t offer any mechanism to block objectionable content or stipulate penal provisions for those who violate the norms. A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan noted the rules were more in the form of an advisory, and not law.

    “These rules do not talk about prosecution or punishment in case of a violation. It cannot be done without a legislation,” the bench told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, representing the Centre. The court was hearing a plea by Aparna Purohit, India head of Amazon Prime, for anticipatory bail in connection with FIRs against her over the controversial web series Tandav.

    There are two FIRs filed against her — one each in Greater Noida and Lucknow. The hearing also witnessed some sharp exchanges between Mehta and senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Purohit. On the court’s remark on Thursday that some over-the-top (OTT) platforms were showing even pornography, Rohatgi said it is not true.

    “There is no such thing on Amazon Prime and Netflix. I see them every evening. There is no such content,” Rohatgi said. “The Bench meant pornographic,” said Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Central government. “I see so many shows. There is no pornography,” Rohatgi averred. On Thursday, the Supreme Court had expressed concern over adult content on some OTT platforms, saying there should be a mechanism to prevent such programmes from being streamed.

    Reprieve for PurohitSC gave Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit interim protection from arrest but directed her to cooperate with police investigation

  • Tandav row: SC grants Amazon Prime Video India head Aparna Purohit interim protection from arrest

    By PTI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court Friday said the Centre’s guidelines on regulating social media do not have any provision for taking appropriate action against digital platforms showing inappropriate content.

    It also granted protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video’s India head Aparna Purohit in FIRs lodged over web series Tandav.

    A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy also issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Purohit’s plea for anticipatory bail in FIRs on Tandav series.

    The apex court observed that the Centre’s regulations on social media are mere guidelines and do not have provision for any action against digital platforms.

    Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the Government will consider appropriate steps and any regulation or legislation on it will be placed before court.

    The court also directed Purohit to make Centre as a party to her plea.

    Tandav is a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub.

    Purohit has been accused of inappropriate depiction of Uttar Pradesh police personnel, Hindu deities and an adverse portrayal of a character playing the prime minister in the web series.

  • A few OTT platforms show pornographic content, there should be some screening of such shows: SC

    #39;A balance has to be struck as some OTT platforms are also showing pornographic materials on their platforms, #39; the bench, also comprising Justice R S Reddy, said.

  • SC posts for March 4 hearing on Amazon Prime India head’s anticipatory bail plea over ‘Tandav’ row

    By ANI
    NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Wednesday postponed for Thursday hearing an appeal of the commercial head of Amazon Prime Video Aparna Purohit, against the Allahabad High Court order that denied anticipatory bail to her, in the ongoing investigation against the web series ‘Tandav’.

    A Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said it will hear the appeal of Purohit on Thursday.

    The High Court on February 25 declined to give protection from arrest to Purohit by dismissing the anticipatory bail application of her.

    The Uttar Pradesh Police had filed an FIR against the top Amazon Prime executive for the derogatory depiction of Hindu deities and promoting religious enmity through the series.

    The High Court in its order has noted that “such people make the revered figures of the religion of majority community source of earning money in a most brazen manner taking benefit of the liberal and tolerant tradition of the country.”

    Making strong observations while rejecting Purohit’s anticipatory bail plea in a case filed against her in Noida, Justice Siddharth said, “The conduct of the applicant shows that she has scant respect for the law of the land and her conduct further disentitles her to any relief from this court.”

    Earlier on January 27, the Supreme Court had refused to grant interim protection from arrest to actor and makers of web series ‘Tandav’ and allowed them to approach High Courts for relief from arrest or quashing of FIRs.

    Justice Ashok Bhushan while denying to grant interim protection from arrest, however, had agreed to hear the issue of transferring and clubbing several FIRs registered against them across the country and issued notice to complainants on the prayer.

    ‘Tandav’ actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, Purohit and the makers had approached the top court seeking protection from arrest on the FIRs registered against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and telecasting objectionable content.

    ‘Tandav’, a nine-episode political thriller that started streaming in January this year on Amazon Prime Over The Top (OTT) platform, featuring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Ayyub, has created an uproar for allegedly hurting religious sentiments.

    The petitions filed in January had requested the top court that criminal proceedings initiated against them for offences including hurting religious sentiments be quashed or alternatively club all the seven FIRs registered in different states and transfer them to a court in Mumbai.

    Three FIRs were registered in Uttar Pradesh’s Lucknow, Noida and Shahjahanpur. Two FIRs were lodged in Madhya Pradesh while one FIR each was lodged in Karnataka and Bihar. Apart from the FIRs, at least three other criminal complaints are pending in Maharashtra, Delhi and Chandigarh respectively.

    FIRs were registered for the alleged inappropriate depiction of Uttar Pradesh Police personnel, deities and adverse portrayal of a character playing the role of prime minister in the show.

    FIRs mentions that the show portrayed the Hindu deity, Shiva, in “a poor light” as the actor playing him on-screen was shown using foul language.  

  • Allahabad HC rejects anticipatory bail plea of Aparna Purohit in ‘Tandav’ web series case

    Express News Service
    LUCKNOW: Laced with some strong objections, the Allahabad High Court, on Thursday, passed an order rejecting the anticipatory bail plea filed by Aparna Purohit, head of India Originals, Amazon Prime Video in connection with an FIR where it was alleged that the makers of web thriller ‘Tandav’ had hurt the religious sentiments of a particular community.

    ‘Tandav,’ the web series is a strong comment on Indian political system including the student’s politics on Amazon Prime Video.

    Rejecting the application of Purohit, Single judge bench comprising, Justice Siddhartha observed that not only the sentiments of the majority community were hurt by the display of the characters of their faith in a disrespectful manner but an attempt was also made to widen the chasm between the higher castes and thescheduled castes when the object of the state is to bridge the gap between the different castes and communities and make the country a united force socially, communally and politically.

    Regarding the plea of the applicant that the charges levelled against her were not made out and that her company had not been impleaded as an accused, the court said that the fact remained that the applicant had not been vigilant and acted irresponsibly making her open to criminal prosecution in permitting screening of a web series which was against the fundamental rights of the majority of citizens of this country and therefore, her fundamental right of life and liberty could not be protected by grant of anticipatory bail to her in the exercise of discretionary powers of this court.

    The court also took affront of the fact that the applicant was not cooperating with the investigation in connection with an FIR lodged against her at the police station Hazratganj, Lucknow, where the court while entertaining her anticipatory bail application had granted her interim protection from arrest by the order dated February 11, 2021.

    Taking notice of it, the court observed, “This conduct of the applicant shows that she has scant respect for the law of the land and her conduct further disentitles her to any relief from this court, since co-operation with investigation is a necessary condition for grant of anticipatory bail.”

    Earlier, the court had reserved its order on February 4, 2021, directing the authorities concerned not to take any coercive action against Purohit till the pronouncement of the order.

    The plea taken by the counsel for the petitioner was that the web series ‘Tandav’ was a work of fiction. There was no intention of the applicant to outrage the religious feeling of any community.

    An FIR was lodged on the complaint of one Balbir Azad of Raunija village under Rabupura police station of Greater Noida on January 19, 2021, alleging that the series depicted Uttar Pradesh and its police in a bad light.

    It further alleged that the series had deliberately denigrated Hindu gods and goddesses. The Prime Minister of India has been depicted going against democratic norms and deliberate comments have been made to disturb caste and communal amity in the society.