All FIRs Against 'Tandav' Series Makers Closed, Uttar Pradesh Govt Tells Supreme Court

During the hearing of petitions filed by makers of Amazon Prime Video's 'Tandav', for clubbing and transfer of FIRs lodged against them in 6 cities for allegedly hurting religious sentiments, the Supreme Court was informed today that the cases pending in Uttar Pradesh stand closed.

A bench of Justices BR Gavai and KV Viswanathan heard the matter and permitted impleadment of the states of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh, where cases in relation to the webseries are stated to be pending.

The hearing witnessed Additional Solicitor General SV Raju apprise the Court that the matter had become infructuous insofar Delhi was concerned. "As far as NCT of Delhi is concerned, we have transferred the case to Lucknow. Nothing survives as far as we are concerned. We are not doing any investigation", he said.

Counsel appearing for Maharashtra made a similar statement, informing that the FIR registered at Ghatkopar had been transferred to UP.

Advocate Ruchira Goel, for Uttar Pradesh, stated that the cases which were registered in or transferred to UP stood closed, as closure reports had been filed by the authorities. "In all FIRs in UP, final reports have been filed. There were three FIRs in UP. All 3 we have filed closure reports", she said.

Counsel appearing for Madhya Pradesh informed that in April, 2024, the investigation in the subject FIRs was going on. He sought some time to file a status report.

In light of Goel's statement, Senior Advocate Siddharth Luthra (for the petitioners) submitted that the issue survived only with respect to the states of Karnataka, Madhya Pradesh and Himachal Pradesh. He prayed that the petitioners be allowed to implead Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

After hearing the parties, the Court passed an order recording the statements made and permitting the impleadment of Karnataka and Himachal Pradesh.

Background

Under the scanner are the makers of Amazon Prime Video's web series 'Tandav' – a nine-episode-long political thriller released in January 2021 which courted controversy for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. After the release of the multi-starrer series, multiple FIRs were lodged across the country against its director, producer, writer, actors, as well as Amazon India Original's head Aparna Purohit under various sections of the Indian Penal Code, 1860 and the Information Technology Act, 2000.

In the same month, the Supreme Court heard a plea moved by director Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu Mehra, writer Gaurav Solanki, and Aparna Purohit praying for the quashing of the proceedings, and the clubbing and transfer of all complaints to a single police station. While a bench of Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy, and MR Shah issued notice in the batch of petitions, it refused to grant any interim protection to the accused. Besides this, the top court also rejected the petitioners' prayer for quashing of the FIRs. It however clarified that the pendency of the petition would not prejudice the right of petitioners to seek appropriate remedies from concerned courts for bail or quashing of FIRs.

In March 2021, Purohit was granted interim anticipatory bail, which was confirmed by an apex court bench headed by Justice Sanjiv Khanna in December, 2022.

Case Title : Himanshu Kishan Mehra & Ors. v. State of Uttar Pradesh & Ors. | Writ Petition (Criminal) No. 48 of 2021 (and connected matters)