The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to grant interim protection to the creators of the controversial 'Tandav' web series and also dismissed their plea to have all FIRs filed against them clubbed together under a single station.
While hearing arguments, the bench consisting of three judges remarked that there were limits to free speech and that there was no precedent to actively injure religious sentiment in the country. The web series has been accused of being derogatory towards the Hindu religion.
The court refused the petition but said that this would not affect the petitioners from seeking other forms of remedies in lower courts, like anticipatory bail.
"Even though we admit that we have not done anything wrong...it is a political satire. If people are so sensitive in everything, then art, cinema, TV, all will be destroyed," said Advocate Rohtagi as quoted by Livelaw. He also said that his clients were experiencing 'harassment' even though controversial parts of the series had been removed.
Director Ali Abbas Zafar, Writer Gourav Solanki, Producer Himanshu Mehra, Actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub and Amazon India Originals Head Aparna, Purohit filed the plea before the Supreme Court regarding six separate FIRs filed against them in six states.