Nudity in web-series: Bombay HC wants pre-screening body set up
On Friday, the Nagpur Bench of Bombay High Court took strong objection at nudity and violence dotting web series and said no content should be made online directly. The bench comprising Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice Murlidhar Giratkar directed ministries to set up a pre-screening committee for curbing nudity, crudity and unsavory content.
Netflix, Amazon Prime, Hotstar, and other channels face heat
The court was hearing a PIL filed by Nagpur based lawyer Divya Gontiya. The gory content, sexually-explicit scenes, immodesty and nudity in web-series, streamed on platforms like Netflix, Amazon Prime etc., concerned Divya. In her PIL, Divya said the "pornographic contents, vulgar gestures and talks are overriding the Indian culture and morality". The PIL pointed out web-series touched political, social and other sensitive issues.
Why there is no controlling authority for web-content, asks Divya
"Many times the content hurt religious sentiments. There are content monitoring authorities for TV, newspapers, films, etc. but there is no controlling authority for web series. Therefore, an independent monitoring machinery should be set up to control over such web contents," Divya said.
Neither national nor international content will be published directly: Court
Responding to the PIL, the bench ordered guiding principles should be issued. The court barred content, both national and International, from being published directly. The court noted that if websites are found in violation of Cinematography Act, Indecent Representation of Women Prohibition Act 1986 and other similar Acts, strict action must be taken against the guilty. Concerned ministries were notified by the court.
