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Tandav Controversy: Supreme Court Says Freedom Of Speech Is Not Absolute
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 27) refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Tandav director, Ali Abbas Zafar and others seeking to quash the FIRs filed against them.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday (January 27) refused to grant interim protection from arrest to Tandav director, Ali Abbas Zafar and others seeking to quash the FIRs filed against them. Instead, the court asked them to approach High Courts across the country for anticipatory bail.
The court also issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states, in the petition filed by the director and producers seeking the clubbing of FIRs lodged against them. Several FIRs and written complaints have been filed against the director, writer, producer and actor of the Amazon Prime Video original show titled, Tandav for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus.
According to reports, a bench comprising of justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and MR Shah heard as many as three separate petitions filed by Zafar, Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Mehra, the show's writer Gaurav Solanki and actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.
The bench said, "Your right to freedom of speech is not absolute. You cannot play the role of character that hurts the sentiments of a community." (sic)
On the pleas seeking clubbing of FIRs, the bench sought responses from states such as UP, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi.
Senior advocates Fali S Nariman, Mukul Rohatgi and Siddharth Luthra argued that despite the content being removed and apologies being made, the FIRs are still being filed across the country. To which the bench said that the police can file closure reports too if apologies have been made.
Luthra argued that the director of the web series is being harassed. "Is this way liberty should be protected in the country and FIRs are being filed across the country," he added. Meanwhile, Rohatgi submitted that "People are so sensitive in this country freedom to speech under then 19 (1)(a) would be destroyed."
Meanwhile, Tandav, the nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers like Saif Ali Khan and Dimple Kapadia, started streaming from January 15 on Amazon Prime Video.
