SC grants protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video Head Aparna Purohit

The Supreme Court on Friday said that the new guidelines of the government on regulating Over The Top OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have no teeth as there is no provision of prosecutionA Bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan said that law has to be framed to put in place a mechanism to control OTT platforms instead of mere guidelinesMeanwhile the Bench also granted relief to the commercial head of Amazon Prime Video Aparna Purohit by directing the Uttar Pradesh police to not arrest her in the case registered against her in Greater Noida amid controversy over the web series TandavThe top court said Purohits protection from arrest will be subject to her cooperating with the investigation and appearing before the police as and when summonedThe Bench while hearing the issue of OTT platforms told Solicitor General Tushar Mehta appearing for the Centre We have received the rules you government have filed These rules dont have any teeth There is no provision for prosecution They are just guidelinesSolicitor General replied that government can come up with a better draft of the rules for the consideration of court within two weeks and the new rules were brought as a balance between nocensorship and internal selfregulationWe can come up with something for the Courts consideration This needs examination he added while seeking two weeks timesYesterday the Bench asked the Centre to submit before it the regulations on OTT platforms while stressing that there should be some screening of shows and web series being telecast on such platformsThe top court had observed that some regulation is needed for OTT platforms as in some cases even pornography is being shown on such platforms and a balance has to be maintainedThe Bench in its order noted that One issue that has cropped up is uncontrolled viewing of scenes on Prime Video Union of India has issued notification the Rules The rules are in the nature of guidelines with no effective regulation of screening or taking appropriate action Rules dont list anything about appropriate action to be taken against those who dont abide by the guidelines Solicitor General has submitted that steps will be taken for the same and it shall be placed before the courtThe issue of regulation of OTT cropped up while hearing an appeal of Purohit who had approached the apex court against the Allahabad High Courts order that denied an anticipatory bail to her in the ongoing investigation against the web series TandavThe High Court on February 25 declined to give protection from arrest to Purohit by dismissing her anticipatory bail applicationThe Uttar Pradesh Police had filed a first information report FIR against the top Amazon Prime executive for derogatory depiction of Hindu deities and promoting religious enmity through the seriesThe High Court in its order has noted that such people make the revered figures of the religion of majority community source of earning money in most brazen manner taking benefit of the liberal and tolerant tradition of countryMaking strong observations while rejecting Purohits anticipatory bail plea in a case filed against her in Greater Noida Justice Siddharth said The conduct of the applicant shows that she has scant respect for the law of the land and her conduct further disentitles her to any relief from this courtEarlier on January 27 the Supreme Court had refused to grant interim protection from arrest to actor and makers of web series Tandav and allowed them to approach High Courts for relief from arrest or quashing of FIRsJustice Ashok Bhushan while denying to grant interim protection from arrest however had agreed to hear issue of transferring and clubbing several FIRs registered against them across the country and issued notice to complainants on the prayerTandav actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub Purohit and the makers had approached the top court seeking protection from arrest on the FIRs registered against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments and telecasting objectionable contentTandav a nineepisode political thriller that started streaming in January this year on Amazon Prime Over The Top OTT platform featuring Saif Ali Khan Dimple Kapadia and Ayyub has created uproar for allegedly hurting religious sentimentsThe petitions filed in January had requested the top court that criminal proceedings initiated against them for offences including hurting religious sentiments be quashed or alternatively club all the seven FIRs registered in different states and transfer them to a court in MumbaiThree FIRs were registered in Uttar Pradeshs Lucknow Greater Noida and Shahjahanpur Two FIRs were lodged in Madhya Pradesh while one FIR each was lodged in Karnataka and Bihar Apart from the FIRs at least three other criminal complaints are pending in Maharashtra Delhi and Chandigarh respectivelyThe FIRs were registered for the alleged inappropriate depiction of Uttar Pradesh Police personnel deities and adverse portrayal of a character playing the role of Prime Minister in the showThe FIRs mention that the show portrayed Hindu deity Shiva in a poor light as the actor playing him onscreen was shown using foul languageThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever