THE HINDUSTAN TIMES| New Delhi
The Supreme Court on Tuesday, March 23, 2021, restrained high courts from hearing petitions to regulate the content of releases on over-the-top ( (OTT ) platforms such as Amazon Prime, Netflix, Hotstar and Zee5, saying it will hear the pleas pending before it on the issue in the second week of April 2021.
On Tuesday, a three-judge bench headed by justice DY Chandrachud stayed proceedings in separate petitions pending in this regard before the Punjab and Haryana high court, Madhya Pradesh high court and Allahabad high court. The bench, also comprising justices MR Shah and Sanjiv Khanna pointed out that about 20 petitions are pending in other high courts. The apex court applied the stay order to all such high courts where similar issues are pending.
The order was passed on a petition moved by the Centre, seeking transfer of all petitions to regulate OTTs from various high courts to the Supreme Court. Last month, the apex court issued notice on this petition moved jointly by the ministries of information and broadcasting, electronics and information technology, and law and justice.
OTT platforms such as Amazon Prime have come under fire for airing content that some claimed: “hurt religious sentiments”.
Earlier on February 25 2021, the Government had issued Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, which provided for self-regulation. The Guidelines was issued after consultations with the stakeholders. The Government has also been holding meetings at the level of the Minister with OTT players on the contents of the guidelines.
The top court has already issued notice on a transfer petition filed by the Centre seeking to club all petitions filed in various high courts on the issue of regulating OTT platforms.
In an affidavit filed in the court, the Centre said it has already notified rules to regulate OTT platforms and there was no need to further entertain petitions on the issue.
Petitioners demanded that a statutory body should be set up for the purpose. Petitioner advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha has demanded the setting up of a Central Board for Regulation and Monitoring of Online Video Contents (CBRMOV) to monitor, filter and regulate content on OTT platforms. There is another PIL filed by Justice for Rights Foundation.
The Centre, however, said the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, have been put in place following complaints from civil society and politicians with regard to the content on the OTT streaming platforms.
OTT content: Content that comes from an OTT content provider (like Sling TV). OTT content can be viewed on multiple devices, including computers, mobile devices, OTT devices, and more.
Along with the Centre’s plea, a batch of PILs was also filed by advocate Shashank Shekhar Jha for NGO ‘Justice for Rights Foundation’ for regulating the OTT platforms by an autonomous body. The court was hearing the said batch of PILs with a proper board and institution sought to monitor and manage the content on different OTT and digital media platforms.
Image Curtsey: Dazeinfo
