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'Tandav' row: SC to hear Amazon Prime head's anticipatory bail plea
In January, Aparna Purohit, 'Tandav' actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, and the makers had approached the Supreme court seeking protection from arrest on the FIRs. The top court at that time denied granting interim protection
The Supreme Court on Wednesday will hear Amazon Prime commercial head Aparna Purohit's appeal against the Allahabad High Court order which denied her anticipatory bail in connection with the ongoing investigation against the video streaming platform's web series 'Tandav'.
In a rare instance, the streaming service on Tuesday issued an apology to its Indian viewers for offending some sentiments. In a statement titled "Amazon Prime Video Apologizes", the company on Tuesday said it deeply regrets viewers considered certain scenes to be objectionable.
"This was never our intention, and the scenes that were objected to were removed or edited when they were brought to our attention. We respect our viewers' diverse beliefs and apologize unconditionally to anyone who felt hurt by these scenes," it added.
The political thriller web series has been ebroiled in controversies since its release in January on Amazon. The Saif Ali Khan-starrer deleted the controversial scenes, but it didn't save the series from political wrath. Three FIRs were registered in Uttar Pradesh's Lucknow, Noida, and Shahjahanpur, two FIRs were lodged in Madhya Pradesh while one FIR each was lodged in Karnataka and Bihar. Apart from the FIRs, at least three other criminal complaints are pending in Maharashtra, Delhi, and Chandigarh, respectively.
In January, Aparna Purohit, 'Tandav' actor Mohammad Zeeshan Ayyub, and the makers had approached the Supreme court seeking protection from arrest on the FIRs. The top court at that time denied granting interim protection.
The appellants then moved to the Allahabad high court which on February 25 declined to give them protection. "Such people make the revered figures of the religion of majority community source of earning money in a most brazen manner taking benefit of the liberal and tolerant tradition of the country," the court in its order said.
