Tandav Controversy Continues: Amazon India Executive Denied Protection From Arrest

Controversy for the Saif Ali Khan-starrer Amazon Prime’s web series Tandav continues in India.

The Allahabad High Court on Thursday has denied anticipatory bail to Aparna Purohit, a top Amazon India executive, in connection with the ongoing investigation against the makers of the web series.

As being reported, Ms. Purohit Amazon India Executive had protection from arrest in a second, separate case filed by the police in Lucknow, and a different judge in the Allahabad High Court extended that protection till March 9 three days ago.

She has been accused of promoting religious enmity and defiling a place of worship.

In a 20-page order, Justice Siddhart, making strong observations while rejecting Ms Purohit’s anticipatory bail plea in the Noida case, said, “The conduct of the applicant shows that she has scant respect for the law of the land and her conduct further disentitles her to any relief from this court.”

“Whenever such crimes are committed by some citizens of the country, like the applicant and her co-accused persons, and it is made the subject matter of demonstration and public protest, the forces inimical to the interest of this country become active and they make it an issue and raise it before different national and international forums alleging that the Indian citizens have become intolerant and ‘India’ has become unsafe place to live,” the order continued.

“Even in the liberal democracies of the West, it becomes a topic of debate and the Indian diplomacy has to face tough time protecting the interest of the country and assuring the international community that the protests made against such acts are stray and genuine and it is not mark of any intolerance in the country as a whole,” it added.

Amazon Prime’s web series Tandav comprising of nine-episode web series was released on January 15.

The web series come under fire for allegedly depicting Hindu gods in a negative light.