FIRs filed against makers of ‘Tandav’ and ‘Mirzapur’

It has been a stressful few days for Amazon Prime Video as two of its shows have created a negative stir across North India. Two separate FIR’s have been filed against the makers ‘Tandav’ and ‘Mirzapur’ in Uttar Pradesh.

Firstly, owing to a complaint by Senior Sub-Inspector Amar Nath Yadav, Lucknow police have booked the makers of ‘Tandav’ for portraying Hindu Gods in a bad light and hurting religious sentiments.

The complaint filed in Hazratganj police station held director Ali Abbas Zafar and producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra, among others accountable and booked them 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 the Information Technology (IT) Act.

Furthermore, a second FIR was filed against ‘Mirzapur’ producers, Farhan Akhtar, Ritesh Sidhwani, and Bhaumik Gondaliya for seemingly hurting religious sentiments, showing derogatory content, taboo relations and spoiling the image of the Mirzapur in UP. It has been filed by Arvind Chaturvedi at Kotwali Dehat police station in Mirzapur.

The people in question have been booked under IPC sections 295 A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or reli­gious beliefs), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of the peace), 505 (statements conducing to public mischief), and sections of the Information Technology (IT) Act.

However, the makers of ‘Tandav’ have since apologised and released a statement following the FIR that said:

“The web series Tandav is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely co-incidental. The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs of insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead. The cast and crew of ‘Tandav’ take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybody’s sentiments.”

There has been no official response from Amazon Prime Video yet.


Also Read: ‘The Legend of Hanuman’ animated series to release on Disney+ Hotstar

More from The Envoy Web