The Supreme Court on Thursday issued notices to the makers and producers of the web-series ‘Mirzapur’ and Amazon Prime Video.
A Bench headed by the Chief justice of India (CJI) SA Bobde admitted the plea and sought a response from the makers of the web-series and Over The Top (OTT) platform Amazon Prime Video. The petition sought a direction that the government of India set up a core screening committee for web series, films, or other programmes which are directly released online platforms.
“Ministry of Information and Broadcasting must make a certificate from a government authority mandatory before releasing any web series, movies, or programme on OTT platforms,” the plea said.
The PIL was filed by Sujeet Kumar Singh, a resident of Mirzapur, who said the web series makers have shown Mirzapur as a city of goons and adulteress.
The plea has made Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Excel Entertainment Pvt Ltd, and Amazon Prime Video, as parties in the case.
OTT platforms are streaming media services offered directly over the Internet.
Recently, another controversy related to a web-series ‘Tandav’ had surfaced for hurting religious sentiments.
On Tuesday, Tandav became the first web series streaming on OTT platform to edit its content after direct intervention from the government. Two scenes regarding which complaints had been made and were mentioned in an FIR filed in Lucknow have now been edited out.
It was also the first such intervention by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry since OTT platforms and news on digital platforms came under its purview on November 11, 2020. Before that, no ministry had direct oversight over them.
