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Tandav Controversy: SC Calls For Balance As Few OTT Platforms Show Pornographic Content
The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 4) said the centre should present guidelines to regulate OTT platform content.
The Supreme Court on Thursday (March 4) said the centre should present guidelines to regulate OTT platform content. During the recent hearing for the Tandav cases, the court observed that a few OTT platforms show some kind of pornographic content at times, and there should be a mechanism to screen such programmes.
A bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan and R Subhash Reddy said, "A balance has to be struck as some OTT platforms are also showing pornographic materials on their platforms."
The court has asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to present the recent guidelines of the government to regulate social media platforms on Friday (March 5). On the same day, the court would also hear the plea of Amazon Prime Video's India head Aparna Purohit.
The Allahabad High Court recently rejected Aparna Purohit's anticipatory bail in connection with the FIRs lodged against her over web series Tandav. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Purohit, said the cases against her are "shocking" as she is just an Amazon employee, neither a producer nor an actor in the show. According to reports, Aparna has been named in around 10 cases against the show, across the country.
On February 25, the Allahabad High Court had rejected her anticipatory bail plea stating, "The irresponsible conduct against the inherent mandate of the Constitution of India by anyone affecting the fundamental rights of the large number of citizens cannot be acquiesced to only because of the tendering of unconditional apology after committing the alleged act of crime and indiscretion."
Meanwhile, Amazon Prime Video has issued a statement apologising for 'objectionable' scenes in the web series on Tuesday (March 2) evening. The streaming platform in the statement expressed "deep regrets" and said, "We respect our viewers' diverse beliefs and apologise unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by these scenes."
Tandav, helmed by Ali Abbas Zafar and written by Gaurav Solanki, stars Saif Ali Khan, Twinkle Khanna, Sunil Grover, Gauahar Khan, Anup Soni, and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub among others.
