FIR against Amazon Prime series ‘Tandav’ makers in Uttar Pradesh.
A new web series released on Amazon Prime name ‘Tandav’ has recently been charged with a case for hurting the religious sentiments of the people in Uttar Pradesh and for allegedly insulting Hindu deities. The first information report of FIR has been filed against the content head of Amazon India Original, Aparna Purohit. The director of the show Ali Abbas Zafar, the producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki and others are also mentioned in the FIR.
The FIR mentions the Indian Penal Code (IPC) sections of 153A (promoting enmity of different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 505 (1) (B) (statements conducing to police mischief with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public where by any person may be induced to commit an offence against the state or against the public tranquility) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) along with different sections under the IT Act.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) on Sunday asked for an explanation from the streaming site Amazon Prime Video of whether or not Hindu deities have been “ridiculed” in the show, hours before the case was filed against them. BJP MP Manoj Kotak on Sunday said that he had already written to Prakash Javedkar the minister of I&B to impose a ban on the web series “Tandav”. Salabh Mani Tripathi who is the media advisor of Yogi Adityanath the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, took to twitter to share a copy of the FIR where he wrote in Hindi “There is no tolerance for playing with people’s sentiments in Yogi Adityanath’s Uttar Pradesh. A serious case has been registered against the entire team of Tandav, which is spreading hate in the guise of cheap web series. Prepare for arrest.
Tandav which premiered on the streaming site on Friday has a starring of Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulai, Dino Morea, Kumud Mishra, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Gauhar Khan and Kritika Kamra. Ali Abbas Zafar directed and co-produced the political drama series with Himanshu Kishan Mehra, the writer of the series is Gaurav Solanki who is best known for 'Article 15'.
OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video, Disney+Hotstar and other online news and current affairs content was recently brought by the government under the horizons of the I&B Ministry by giving them the powers to regulate policies and mandates in the digital arena.
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