Allahabad HC Denies Anticipatory Bail To Aparna Purohit

OVERVIEW 

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday refused to grant anticipatory bail to Amazon Prime Video’s India Content Head Aparna Purohit, regarding the FIR filed against the web series ‘Tandav’ on the OTT platform.

The Court also issued several guidelines in the 20-page order so as to prevent hurting religious sentiments and depiction of Hindu Gods and Goddesses in an ‘insidious manner’ in films and shows.

BACKGROUND

The Court was addressing the anticipatory bail application submitted with a prayer to grant pre-arrest bail to the applicant, Aparna Purohit.

The applicant has been charged for committing the alleged offences under section 66 (computer-related offences), 66F (punishment for cyber terrorism), and 67 (transmitting obscene material) of the I.T Act, 2008, along with section 153-A (promoting enmity between different groups), 295 (defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion), 505 (1)(b) (public mischief), 505 (2) (statements promoting hatred between classes), and 469 (forgery of purpose of harming reputation) of the IPC.

RECENT DEVELOPMENTS

The bench of Justice Siddharth mentioned that several Hindi filmmakers subject Hindu deities to ridicule in the ‘popular culture’ and use it as a source of earning money by taking undue advantage of the ‘liberal and tolerant tradition of the country.’

“These characters are part of religious faith of majority community of India and their use by filmmakers in an offensive way is bound to hurt the sentiments of the majority community of the country.”

The judge cited names of movies like ‘Ram Teri Ganga Maili’, ‘Satyam Shivam Sundaram’, ‘PK’, and ‘OMG: Oh My God’ to assert his point.

“Efforts have been made to subvert the image of historical and mythological personalities (Padmavati).

Names and icons of faith of majority community have been used to earn money (Goliyon ki Rasleela Ram Leela).”

The bench also referred to the recent case of the stand-up comedian Munawar Faruqui, stating that the ‘trend’ of hurting religious sentiments has shifted to being appeared in ‘comedy shows’ too.

“Things are worsening as is evident from the fact that an obscure stand-up comedian, Munawar Faruqui, from Gujarat made comments on Hindu Gods and Goddesses in a new year show at Indore and gained undue publicity on being arrested in a case…Such people make the revered figures of religion of majority community source of earning.”

The prosecution also submitted that the content of the impugned series is ‘affecting the image of the police of the State of Uttar Pradesh adversely’, observing the following points:

• In a police vehicle, two actors are shown to be traveling with open doors in a police uniform while consuming liquor and hurling abuses.
• In the first half of the movie, Hindu Gods and Goddesses have been depicted in a bad light with the intent to incite communal sentiments.
• The manner in which the post of the Prime Minister is depicted could adversely affect the democratic system of the country.
• Caste and community-related conversation have been depicted deliberately so as to affect public peace.
• Comments against the State police, public administration and constitutional posts have been uttered to develop an ‘element of hate’ between communities while also disrespecting scheduled castes in a few scenes.
• Social harmony and public peace shall be adversely affected on account of the scenes and dialogues in the movie.
• All in all, such steps have deliberately undertaken to make the web series ‘controversial’ and gain publicity for the purpose of commercial gain.

CONCLUSION

On account of the aforementioned observations stated by the prosecution, the Court declared that the conduct of the applicant displays ‘scant respect for the law of the land and her conduct further disentitles her to relief from this Court’, thus denying her the benefit of pre-arrest bail.

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