The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest to Bollywood producer Ekta Kapoor on an FIR filed by Czarina Kapoor over objectionable content in the web series XXX Season 2. The series is on Zee 5 and is promoted by ALT Balaji, a concern owned by Kapoor and her mother.
The bench headed by Chief Justice S.A. Bobde, was hearing a petition filed by Kapoor against the order passed by Madhya Pradesh High Court which refused to quash the FIR registered against her in Indore.
Kapoor has been booked under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and IT Act. She has been booked under Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) and 34 of the Indian Penal Code, Sections 67 (Punishment for publishing or transmitting obscene material in electronic form) and 67-A (Punishment for publishing or transmitting of material containing sexually explicit act, etc. in electronic form) of the Information Technology (IT) Act, and Section 3 (Prohibition of improper use of emblem) of the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.
Valmik Sakaragaye, the complainant, had filed the FIR against Ekta Kapoor and two others in Indore for allegedly spreading obscenity and hurting religious feelings with XXX Season 2. The Madhya Pradesh High Court dismissed her plea for quashing the complaint. Kapoor had moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court stating that she did not have any knowledge about the content of the web series as she is neither the director nor the producer of the series.
She mentioned that her name is also not there in the credits of the episodes. This statement was rejected by the High Court citing that Kapoor being the MD of the platform is “presumed to have knowledge” about the contents of the episode.
In respect to the case, the Apex Court said that the matter is premature as the investigation is still on and no charge-sheet has been filed yet. Till further turn of events, Kapoor has been granted interim protection from arrest.