Bombay HC grants three weeks transit pre-arrest bail to Tandav makers

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday granted a three-week transit pre-arrest bail to Tandav director Ali Abbas Zafar and producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and writer Gaurav Solanki. Similar relief was also granted to Aparna Purohit, head of content, Amazon Prime.

The Bombay high court (HC) on Wednesday granted a three-week transit pre-arrest bail to Tandav director Ali Abbas Zafar and producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra and writer Gaurav Solanki. Similar relief was also granted to Aparna Purohit, head of content, Amazon Prime. The four have been booked in a first information report (FIR) filed by the Lucknow Police based on a complaint by senior sub-inspector Amar Nath Yadav who alleged that the web series portrays Hindu gods in a bad light.

Bombay high court. (HT FILE)

A single-judge bench of justice Prakash D Naik was informed by senior counsel Aabad Ponda and advocate Aniket Nikam that the FIR does not make any direct/indirect allegations against the applicants in their individual capacity. “The FIR also does not portray any role/intent whatsoever to the applicant for having committed any offence, under which the FIR is registered,” submitted the counsels.

The makers of Tandav have been booked under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 505 (1) (B) (public mischief with intent to cause fear or alarm) and 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) of the Indian Penal Code and provisions of the Information Technology Act.

Purohit’s plea, which is filed separately, states, “The web series and the characters thereof in no manner depict/portray or represent any gods and/or goddesses of any religion whatsoever.”

Additional public prosecutor Yogesh Nakhwa opposed the applications stating that the accused should approach Hazratganj court in Lucknow and seek similar relief instead of approaching the Bombay HC.

After hearing the submissions, the bench granted transitory anticipatory bail of three weeks to the four to enable them to approach the court in Lucknow for regular pre-arrest bail and disposed of the applications.