Image source: Rohit Paras Jain
The Indore bench of the Madhya Pradesh high court dismissed a petition of producer Ekta Kapoor for quashing the FIR lodged for the controversial scenes of Season 2 of the web series ‘XXX’ aired on the OTT platform Alt Balaji.
An FIR was registered against Kapoor in a local police station five months ago alleging that the web series, aired on her OTT platform ALTBalaji, not only “spreads obscenity” but also “hurts religious feelings”. The TV producer-cum-filmmaker was booked under relevant sections of the Information Technology Act and the IPC. A single bench of Justice Shailendra Shukla observed, “After due consideration in view of the aforesaid discussions, it appears that facts of the case are not such that this court may exercise its extraordinary powers under Section 482 of CrPC for quashing the FIR at least in respect of Section 67, 67-A of IT Act and Section 294 of IPC.”
Justice Shailendra Shukla gave a detailed verdict while dismissing the petition filed under Section 482 of the Criminal Procedure Code. However, the court has given relief to Ekta Kapoor in the allegations made in the FIR for hurting religious sentiments and improper use of national emblems through the telecast of the web series.