TANDAV CASE: HC REFUSES ANTICIPATORY BAIL TO AMAZON PRIME VIDEO OFFICIAL

PRAYAGRAJ : The Allahabad high court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application of commercial head of Amazon Prime Video Aparna Purohit in connection with the ongoing investigation against the web series ‘Tandav’.

Aparna has been accused of inappropriate depiction of UP police personnel, Hindu deities and a character playing role of prime minister in ‘Tandav’.

Justice Siddharth said though the applicant was earlier granted interim protection from arrest by another bench in a similar case, she was not cooperating in the investigation. The petitioner’s plea is the web series is a work of fiction and there was no intention of the applicant to outrage the religious feeling of any community. The state government counsel’s argument was that 10 FIRs and four criminal complaints have been filed in the country in connection with the web series. It shows that a number of persons across the country have felt that the web series is offensive.

PRAYAGRAJ: The Allahabad high court on Thursday rejected the anticipatory bail application of commercial head of Amazon Prime Video Aparna Purohit in connection with the ongoing investigation against the web series ‘Tandav’.

Aparna has been accused of inappropriate depiction of UP police personnel, Hindu deities and a character playing role of prime minister in ‘Tandav’.

Justice Siddharth, while rejecting the plea, said though the applicant was earlier granted interim protection from arrest by another bench in a similar case, she was not cooperating in the investigation.

The petitioner’s plea is the web series is a work of fiction and there was no intention of the applicant to outrage the religious feeling of any community.

The state government counsel’s argument was that 10 FIRs and four criminal complaints have been filed in the country in connection with the web series. It shows that a number of persons across the country have felt that the web series is offensive.

The court, after hearing concerned parties, observed, “The basic philosophy of the Constitution is to permit the people of all faiths to practice, profess and propagate their religion freely without hurting or acting against the people who profess or practice different religious faiths than theirs. Therefore, it is an onerous duty of every citizen to respect the feelings of the people of other faiths even while making a fiction.”

Referring to certain scenes of the web-series, the court observed, “The scenes in dispute are likely to cause disturbance and threats to public order. The reference to Hindu Gods and Goddesses in the scenes, in dispute, in berating light cannot be justified.”

The court further observed, “Western filmmakers have refrained from ridiculing Lord Jesus or the Prophet but Hindi filmmakers have done this repeatedly and are still doing this most unabashedly with the Hindu Gods and Goddesses.”

The court said: “This tendency on the part of the Hindi film industry is growing and if not curbed in time, it may have disastrous consequences for the Indian social, religious and communal order. There appears to be a design behind such acts on the part of the people who just give a disclaimer in all the films and depict things in the movies which are really religiously, socially and communally offensive in nature. The young generation of the country, which is not much aware of the social and cultural heritage of this country, gradually starts believing what is shown in the movies by the people like the accused persons in the present movie in dispute and thereby, it destroys the basic concept of the survival of this country having tremendous diversity of all kinds as a united nation. Film industry in south has not indulged in such acts like the Hindi film industry.”

The court went on to take judicial notice of the fact that whenever such crimes (like the one in hand) are committed by some citizens of the country, “the forces inimical to the interest of this country become active and they make it an issue and raise it before different national and international forums alleging that the Indian citizens have become intolerant and ‘India’ has become an unsafe place to live.”

On January 19, an FIR was lodged by one Balbir Azad in Rabupura police station of Greater Noida in which he alleged that the series depicted Uttar Pradesh and its police in poor light. The complaint further alleged that the series had deliberately denigrated Hindu gods and goddesses.

The FIR further alleged that the Prime Minister was depicted going against democratic norms and comments were used to disturb communal amity.