The Supreme Court did not give any relief to actors and the makers of Tandav, an Amazon Prime Video Web Series who appealed for protection against their arrest. At least three cases have been filed in Uttar Pradesh against the makers of the series for the inappropriate depiction of the UP police, deities, and adverse portrayal of the character of PM. States like Maharashtra, Karnataka, Bihar, Delhi, and Chandigarh also have similar cases filed.
The makers have been accused of promoting religious enmity, hurting religious sentiments, and defiling places of worship. The director, makers, and actors of Tandav have spoilt social harmony and hurt the sentiments of Hindus. UP Deputy Chief Minister assured that tough legal action will be taken on the same.
These cases have sprung up despite the fact that the makers have apologized and have bough about a few changes in two scenes to address the concerns.
After which, Amazon Creative head Aparna Purohit, maker of the series Himanshu Mehra and Actor Zeeshan Ayyub moved to the top court seeking relief from the arrest.
They also mentioned in their petition that facing prosecution in various states would lead to harassment and, asked the Supreme court to intervene and transfer the FIRs to Mumbai. The court agreed to concur on the second request. The petitioners were represented by Lawyers Fali Nariman, Siddharth Luthra, and Mukul Rohatgi.
Advocate Fali Nariman raised that the makers have already apologized for any harm that they have caused. Advocate Mukul Rohtagi said that the makers have done nothing wrong as the whole show was only a political satire. To support his argument, he also quoted the example of Arnab Goswami where the court granted him protection from the arrest upholding his personal liberty of citizens.
Lawyers also argued on the freedom of speech and expression to which Justice Shah said that this right was not absolute.
The lawyer of Actor Ayub stated that he was only an actor working under the contract and the allegations are on the character. Justice Shah responded by saying that the actor cannot afford to hurt religious sentiments knowingly considering he read the contract before signing.
The court refused any interim protection and asked them to approach higher courts.
Though the content for the web series is not censored, there has been a call for regulation especially from the BJP leaders as leading platforms like Disney’s Hotstar, Amazon Prime Video and Netflix are commissioning local content.
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