Supreme Court Refuses to Grant Interim Protection to Makers of Tandav

The Supreme Court Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Ali Abbas Zafar, Director of web series 'Tandav', and others seeking quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus and issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states on their pleas. A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah was hearing as many as three separate petitions of Zafar, Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Mehra, the show's writer Gaurav Solanki and actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.

The makers of the controversial show sought quashing of multiple FIRs registered against them as the objectionable content was removed from the OTT platform.

The bench has sought responses from states such as UP, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi on the pleas.

The Saif Ali Khan starter political drama received flak from Hindu organisations over a few scenes. The makers decided to drop the scenes and issued apologies after seeing the uproar on social media. However, the series has started a debate on blasphemy and talk around OTT regulations has 
gained traction again.