Observing that there "is pornography in some films" screened on over-the-top (OTT) platforms, the Supreme Court on Thursday said movies or shows on such platforms such as Netflix and Amazon need to be screened before they are available to the public.
"There should be some screening of films, series shown on OTT platforms like Netflix, Amazon… There is pornography in some films,” the court said while hearing a plea on the Tandav controversy.
The apex court was hearing a plea by Aparna Purohit, Amazon Prime Video's Head of India Originals, challenging the Allahabad High Court order denying her anticipatory bail.
The Supreme Court Bench of Justice Ashok Bhushan and Justice RS Reddy asked the Centre to present before it the regulations it recently put in place on the OTT platforms, before adjourning the hearing till Friday.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, who was appearing for Purohit, said the cases against her are "shocking". "Purohit is just an employee of Amazon, neither a producer nor an actor," he said.
The lawyer contended that the OTT regulations have come and the Allahabad High Court order was not based on these. "It’s about freedom of speech and expression," he said, adding that Tandav was not available for free and that it could only be watched by payment. He also called those who filed the FIRs "publicity seekers".
The Amazon Prime Original political drama has been accused of hurting Hindu sentiments. The series premiered on Amazon Prime on January 15 and Purohit has been named in multiple FIRs for the derogatory depiction of deities and promoting religious enmity.
The high court, in its anticipatory bail plea order, had noted that “such people make the revered figures of the religion of (the) majority community source of earning money in a most brazen manner taking benefit of the liberal and tolerant tradition of the country”.
Rejecting Purohit's anticipatory bail plea in a case filed in Noida, Justice Siddharth of the Allahabad HC had said that her conduct “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 Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub and the makers of web series Tandav and allowed them to approach high courts.
They had approached the top court seeking protection from arrest after seven FIRs were registered against them in different states.
Three FIRs were registered in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, Noida, and Shahjahanpur, two in Madhya Pradesh and one each in Karnataka and Bihar. The FIRs mentioned that the show portrayed the Hindu deity, Shiva, in "a poor light" as his character was shown using foul language.
