What s the Lakshman Rekha for Free Speech about Religion? Updated Feb 27, 2021 | 09:06 IST
Is India really prepared to be a society open to a free exchange of views on matters of faith, even at the risk of being offended? Representational Image
In India, deliberately, or with malicious intention, hurting one’s religious sentiments is a crime under Section 295 A. And there is no shortage of hurt sentiments, irrespective of which community you belong to, and that’s a key reason for the law to be so routinely invoked. For a liberal, ideally, the line that needs to be drawn in terms of limiting free speech is where it descends down to inciting violence. Though the laws against sedition, under Section 124A, and hate speech or promoting enmity between groups, under Section 153A, have been read down by the courts, with an incitement to violence a key pre-requisite for consideration of a conviction, they, too have been misused. With Section 295A, it’
Tandav case: Allahabad HC rejects anticipatory bail of Amazon India original content head indiatimes.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from indiatimes.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
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Tandav Controversy: Allahabad HC denies anticipatory bail to Amazon Prime head
The Allahabad High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to Aparna Purohit, the head of India Originals at Amazon Sellers Service Pvt Ltd, which is showing Tandav web series online. A single-judge bench of Justice Siddharth passed this order on Thursday while hearing an anticipatory bail application.
The anticipatory bail application had been filed by Aparna Purohit in the case under Sections- 153(A)(1)(b), 295-A, 505(1)(b) 505(2) IPC, Section 66 and 67 of the Information Technology Act and Section 3(1)(r) of SC/ST Act.
The allegation in the FIR lodged against the applicant and six other co-accused persons is that a web series is being shown on Amazon Prime Video, which is an online movie OTT platform, has objectionable content.
The Allahabad High Court has refused to grant anticipatory bail to Aparna Purohit, the head of India Originals at Amazon Sellers Service Pvt Ltd, which is showing Tandav web series online.A single-judge bench of Justice Siddharth passed this order on Thursday while hearing an anticipatory bail application.
February 26, 2021
The Allahabad High Court, on Thursday, rejected an anticipatory bail plea filed by Amazon Prime Video’s India content head, Aparna Purohit, noting that the web series Tandav included scenes that intentionally used names of Hindu deities to convey an “insidious message”. While pronouncing its order, the court held that insulting Hindu deities has now become a trend, which has been passed down by movies.
“Western filmmakers have refrained from ridiculing Lord Jesus or the Prophet but hindi filmmakers have done this repeatedly and still doing this most unabashedly with the Hindu Gods and Godesses. Things are worsening as is evident from the fact that an obscure stand-up comedian, Munawar Faruqui, from Gujarat made comments on Hindu God and Godesses in a new year show at Indore and gained undue publicity on being arrested in a case.” Allahabad High Court