Allahabad HC quashes FIR against makers of Mirzapur web series

The Allahabad High Court on Friday quashed an FIR registered against the makers of web series Mirzapur for allegedly hurting religious, social and regional sentiments and portraying Uttar Pradesh's district with the same name in a poor light.

The FIR against the producers Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani and directors and writers of the 'Mirzapur Series,' namely Karan Anshuman, Gurmeet Singh, Puneet Krishna, and Vineet Krishna, has been quashed by the Bench of Justice MC Tripathi and Justice Subhash Vidyarthi.

The bench passed a judgement saying no offence under IPC sections invoked against the producers was made out.

"…this Court is satisfied that there is no allegation to make out a case that the petitioners have, with a deliberate and malicious intention of outraging the religious feelings of any class of citizens of India, insulted or attempted to insult the regional or the religious beliefs of that class through the web series Mirzapur…" read the order.

The FIR, lodged at Mirzapur's Kotwali Dehat police station, was filed after a complaint by local journalist Arvind Chaturvedi. The complainant had claimed that the web series has hurt his "religious, social and regional sentiments", adding that it presented the city of Mirzapur in a poor light.

He further alleged that Mirzapur's producers and over-the-top (OTT) media service platform Amazon Prime portrayed the place "as an anti-social and criminal place depicting illicit relations in the family, abusive language and caste-based animosity."

The complainant said that while Mirzapur was the place of Hindu goddess Vindhyavasini that is an inspiration for the entire world, the show spreads hatred and corrupt mindset in the society and was far away from reality.

Earlier this year, the producers had approached the Court seeking quashing of the FIR, thereafter, the writers and directors of the show too, had approached the court. The Court had stayed their arrests in January and February this year.

The Petitioners (Farhan Akhtar & Ritesh Sidhwani) had submitted before the Court that the said series is purely a work of fiction, which is specifically clarified by way of a disclaimer at the start of each episode which apprises all its viewers. They had argued that the series respects all faiths and religions and that all places and events in the series are completely fictional.