Amitha Muraleedharan
Madhya Pradesh High Court bench of Justice Shailendra Shukla of the refused to quash the FIR registered against Ekta Kapoor, the managing director of ALT BALAJI.
“As far as the present case is concerned, it cannot be stated outrightly that the impugned episode is not obscene,” the judge said while hearing the plea.
Ekta Kapoor had filed an application under Section 482 of CrPC, seeking to quash the FIR filed against her for allegedly spreading obscene content through her web show XXX season 2.
She approached the High Court because she had no knowledge of the content of the episode. She was neither the producer nor director of the show.
Kapoor contended that the charges under section 294 are not applicable because the content was not available on public platforms, but on a subscription basis, only being accessible to adults.
Kapoor argued that restrictions that are inappropriate in nature would infringe the fundamental right of freedom of speech and expression mentioned in Article 19 (1) (a) of the Indian Constitution.
Valmik Sakaragaye, the complainant, stated that the web show XXX Season 2 had hurt religious sentiments.
The complainant claimed that a particular scene from the series violated the sanctity of the National emblem, dishonouring it.