Picture : Twitter / ANI
The Supreme Court of India has said the new guidelines of the government on regulating OTT platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime have “no teeth” as there is no provision of prosecution.
The apex court said a law has to be framed to put in place a mechanism to control OTT platforms instead of mere guidelines.
The court made these observations in the hearing on Tandav web series on Amazon Prime. in which it directed that the platform’s Aparna Purohit shall not be arrested. It also told Purohit to co-operate in the ongoing investigation.
Earlier SC had said that few over-the-top (OTT) platforms show some kind of pornographic content at times, and there should be a mechanism to screen such programmes.
A bench headed by Justice Ashok Bhushan asked Solicitor General Tushar Mehta to place before it the recent guidelines of the government to regulate social media platforms on Friday, when it would hear the plea of Amazon Prime Video’s India head Aparna Purohit challenging the Allahabad High Court order rejecting her anticipatory bail in connection with FIRs lodged against her over web series ‘Tandav’.
A balance has to be struck as some OTT platforms are also showing pornographic materials on their platforms, the bench, also comprising Justice R S Reddy, said.
Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Purohit, termed the case against her as shocking saying this woman is an employee of Amazon and she is neither a producer nor an actor but still she has been made an accused in around 10 cases relating to the web series across the country.
Tandav, a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, started streaming recently.
