The Supreme Court asked Thursday how there can be a pre-selection committee for web series, movies or other programs that are broadcast directly on online platforms.
A bench led by India’s Chief Justice UU Lalit observed that he had always considered pre-censorship to be inadmissible.
“How can there be a pre-selection committee for webseries? There is a particular legislation. Unless you say that OTT (over-the-top) is also part of it… you have to say that existing legislation must apply to OTT. Various issues will arise as transmission occurs from other countries,” the bench said.
The High Court was hearing a plea filed by Mirzapur resident Sujeet Kumar Singh for the establishment of a pre-selection committee for web series, movies or other programs which are directly broadcast on online platforms .
The higher court also refused to suspend the third season of the popular web series Mirzapur, which is currently in production.
Earlier, the Supreme Court had issued notices to the makers and producers of web series Mirzapur and Amazon Prime Video on a petition complaining about the depiction of the city of Mirzapur in a bad light in the famous OTT series.
The PIL said that in the web series, the makers showed Mirzapur as a city of goons and adulterers and such exposure denigrates the image of the city of Uttar Pradesh. He added that in the fictional series, Mirzapur was presented as being full of terror, crime and other illegal activities.
Stating that the Mirzapur series has tarnished the historical and cultural image of the city, the petition said the OTT series is full of nudity, vulgarity, harassment and abusive language.
The petition requested the Indian government to set up a selection committee for web series, movies or other programs that are directly streamed on the online platform. “The Ministry of I&B will mandate the certificate from a government authority before publishing any web series, movie or program,” the plea added.
“Government of India should put in place rules and regulations for serials, movies and other programs which are aired on web platforms and should be censored like other movies before their theatrical release.” It said.
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