Lucknow:
The Uttar Pradesh police has booked the makers of web series Tandav, actors Saif Khan and Zeeshan Ayyub and Amazon India’s content head over the alleged derogatory depiction of Hindu gods, with an aide of the chief minister warning them of serious legal repercussions.
An FIR was lodged at Hazratganj police station against the Amazon’s India head of original content, Aparna Purohit, series director Ali Abbas, producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki, and an unknown person on Sunday night.
The film starring Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Dino Morea, Kumud Mishra, Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, Gauhar Khan and Kritika Kamra, premiered on the streaming platform on Friday.
Deputy Commissioner of Police (Central) Somen Burma said a four-member police team left for Mumbai on Monday for a detailed probe into the matter.
Another FIR was lodged in Shahjahanpur against Abbas and actors Saif Ali Khan and Zeeshan Ayyub on a complaint by BJP MLA Vikram Veer Singh from Katra constituency at Katra police station, Superintendent of Police S Anand said.
The SP said that FIR was lodged under relevant sections of IPC and a probe is on.
Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath’s media advisor Shalabhmani Tripathi, in a tweet, warned the web series makers of serious legal fallout while tagging them all to his tweet.
“The UP Police has left for Mumbai, that too in a car. There are strong sections in the FIR, remain prepared, will have to pay a price for hurting religious sentiments,” Tripathi said in his tweet.
He also tagged Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thakeray’s office to his tweet, saying “Hopefully you will not come to their rescue”.
“Playing with people’s sentiments will not be tolerated, cases under stringent sections have been invoked against the team of web series Tandav, which is spreading hatred in the guise of cheap web entertainment, be prepared for arrest soon,” he said.
BSP president Mayawati too called for removing the objectionable parts from the web series.
“Protests are being lodged against some scenes hurting the religious and ethnic sentiments in the Tandav web series, in respect of which it would be appropriate to remove whatever is objectionable so that the atmosphere of peace, harmony and mutual brotherhood in the country is not spoiled,” she said in a tweet earlier on Monday.
Amid the controversy, the makers of ‘Tandav’ on Monday evening apologised unconditionally and said they ”did not have any intention to offend the sentiments” of any individual, caste, community, race or religion.
Announcing the UP police team’s departure to Mumbai, DCP Burma said earlier, ”The FIR was lodged at Hazratganj police station by its Senior Sub Inspector Amarnath Yadav himself after he saw the allegedly objectionable web series,” the DCP said.
In the FIR lodged against the web series makers, the complainant SI said the series was viewed on the directions of senior officials after the monitoring of social media revealed there was public outrage against the series.
On viewing the series, it was found that Hindu gods and goddesses were presented in an “undignified manner” in the first episode during its 17th minute and were seen using foul and filthy language, hurting the religious sentiments of the people.
Similarly, in the 22nd minute of the same episode as well as at several places in other episodes, there were several dialogues attributed to deities and other characters that have the potential to incite caste anger, the FIR added.
It also said the character in the series occupying the high post of the prime minister of the country has been portrayed in a “very belittling manner” and there are also scenes, depicting people as belonging to high and low castes, and women in insulting manners.
The intent of the web series is to incite religious sentiments of a particular community and trigger communal enmity in the society, the FIR said.
The Indian Penal Code sections under which the FIR has been lodged include 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds like race, religion, and place of birth), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation).
Section 505 (1) (B) of the IPC related to making statements, potentially triggering public mischief and prompting an individual or people to commit an offence against the state amongst other and various sections of the Information Technology Act have also been added in the FIR.
Taking cognizance of complaints that Hindu gods and goddesses have been ridiculed in the web series, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting had on Sunday sought an explanation from streaming platform Amazon Prime Video on the issue, sources had said.
The development came after BJP MP Manoj Kotak on Sunday said he has written to Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar seeking a ban on the series for allegedly ridiculing Hindu deities.
The government recently brought OTT platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime Video and Disney+ Hotstar, besides other online news and current affairs content, under the ambit of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, giving it powers to regulate policies and rules for the digital space.
