Aparna Purohit gets Interim Protection From Arrest; SC says

This Friday SC grants Aparna Purohit complete interim protection from arrests. We know that Amazon Prime Videos has been in controversies since January, as the release of an Amazon Prime Original series Tandav followed. Aparna Purohit happens to be the head of Amazon Prime India.

There has been an array of FIRs against her for allegedly hurting the sentiments of a community in India via web series Tandav. The company did not take it down the streaming platform.

Allahabad High Court refused to give her anticipatory bail in this matter and hence the Supreme Court had to be brought into account. Aparna Purohit challenged the Allahabad High Court verdict.

It was informed that petitioner, Aparna Purohit, is right now cooperating in Lucknow FIR and the High Court has granted protection. There will be an investigation and the petitioner promised to cooperate. She is not only the head of Amazon Prime Head but also had a hand in writing and production of the web series. Justice Ashok Bhushan also said that the petitioner shall not be arrested against any FIRs and she shall be cooperative. 

He later added that “Law has to be framed to put in place a mechanism to control OTT platforms instead of mere guidelines. The new guidelines of the government on regulating OTT platforms like Netflix & Amazon Prime Video has ‘no teeth’ as there is no provision of prosecution.”

This means that the mere guidelines that the Centre has provided to regulate on social media but there are no provisions as to what needs to be done if the guidelines are provoked on digital platforms. 

According to many critics, the show did not break any guidelines.

On the contrary, Allahabad High Court had passed a judgment where the bench believed that Aparna Purohit acted irresponsibly making her open to criminal prosecution for permitting streaming of the web series Tandav. Hence she does not deserve the fundamental right to life and liberty. Based on this the bench denied the anticipatory bail to Purohit on February 25th.

The show stars some great-known faces like Saif Ali Khan, Sunil Grover, Kritika Kamra and has been part of controversy since its inception on the OTT platform.