Centre’s regulations do not penalise OTT platforms: Supreme Court
- The court also granted protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video's head of India originals Aparna Purohit in FIRs lodged over the platform’s crime thriller Tandav
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday said the Centre's guidelines on regulating digital media do not have any provisions for taking appropriate action against platforms showing inappropriate content, according to a PTI report.
The court also granted protection from arrest to Amazon Prime Video's head of India originals Aparna Purohit in FIRs lodged over the platform’s crime thriller Tandav.
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A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan and R S Reddy issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government on Purohit's plea for anticipatory bail in FIRs in connection with the show. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, appearing for the Centre, said the government will consider appropriate steps and any regulation or legislation on it will be placed before court. The apex court also directed Purohit to make Centre as a party to her plea, PTI said.
“It appears that the SG (Solicitor General) has agreed to submit a better draft of the guidelines and the court has indicated that the rules will also be considered in the instant matter. The government may be directed to amend these rules," Chandrima Mitra, partner at DSK Legal said, adding that the industry will have to wait and watch what happens next.
Possible penalties could be the latest blow for both foreign and homegrown video streaming platforms and content creators who are already miffed with the new set of rules mandating age-appropriate classification of programmes and the third tier of complaint redressal in the form of a government committee. OTT is not a mass medium like cinema or television and relies more on “pull" content for personal consumption, they argue.
“Platforms have already been wary and cautious of any subject that makes a political statement. This (likely penalties) will only lead to all of us, who are simply running a business to keep second-guessing ourselves to make sure we don’t have to deal with random complaints," said a senior studio executive. The person said that most platforms have been erring on the side of caution for a while now and that the charm of web content lies in slightly edgy, though not unnecessarily provocative content.
To be sure, the government tightened its control over digital and OTT (over-the-top) platforms last week, introducing a three-tier mechanism that it termed as a ‘soft-touch regulatory architecture.’ While the first two tiers bring in place a system of self-regulation by the platform itself and by the self-regulating bodies of content publishers, the third calls for an oversight mechanism by the central government. The guidelines do not, however, outline any penalties.
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Last week, a single-judge bench of the Allahabad High Court had rejected an anticipatory bail application filed by Purohit, over the UP Police FIR in Noida which accused her of hurting religious sentiments by pushing anti-Hindu content and scenes mocking Hindu gods in the web series. It had said that Purohit had not been “vigilant and has acted irresponsibly making her open to criminal prosecution in permitting streaming of a movie which is against the fundamental rights of the majority of citizens of this country and therefore, her fundamental right of life and liberty cannot be protected by grant of anticipatory bail to her in the exercise of discretionary powers of this court."
Earlier this week, Amazon Prime Video tendered a formal apology on the controversy that erupted around Tandav.
(PTI contributed to this report)
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