Tandav web series makers get major relief as Gwalior court orders closure of case

The Sessions Court in Gwalior gave major relief to the makers and producers of the Tandav web series by closing a case against them which was filed by Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha.

In Short

• Gwalior court overturns delay condonation in Tandav case
• FIR filed for inciting religious sentiments against web series makers
• Sessions court rules in favour of web series makers

A local court in Madhya Pradesh's Gwalior district on Friday overturned a decision of a local Magistrate court which condoned the delay in filing a chargesheet against Tandav web series makers by the Gwalior Police.

The FIR had been lodged by Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha with the Gwalior Crime Branch against web series director Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Himanshu and writer Gaurav Solanki for inciting religious sentiments.

This FIR was registered on January 20, 2021 under sections 153 (A) (Promoting enmity between different groups), 295 (A) (Outraging religious feelings) and 505 (1) and 505 (2) (Statements conducing to public mischief) of the Indian Penal Code (IPC). The maximum punishment under these sections is three years of imprisonment.

In this case, the Gwalior Crime Branch summoned the accused on September 10, 2023, and then filed the chargesheet on April 29, 2024, before the magistrate's court.

Advocate Jay Bharadwaj appearing for the three accused opposed this delay and pointed out that the chargesheet should have been filed at least by January 20, 2024.

The Gwalior Crime Branch then applied for condonation of delay while stating that they had to record the statements of witnesses and collect evidence. They also submitted that they had to wait for sanction from the Union and state governments and thus there was a delay.

Bharadwaj had opposed this condonation of delay application by pointing to various judgements of the Supreme Court and other courts. Bharadwaj also stressed that the controversial scenes had been deleted by the web series makers after the huge ruckus that had erupted soon after release and today those controversial scenes cannot be seen.

The magistrate court had, however, allowed the application of the crime branch and condoned the delay and kept the case for further hearing in October.

Zafar, Himanshu and Solanki then approached the Gwalior Sessions Court on this limited issue, where Bharadwaj argued the revision petition and after hearing both sides, the Sessions court ruled in favour of the web series makers.

With the court rejecting the condonation of delay, the entire case in Gwalior comes to a close against the web series makers. This was the only case in which a chargesheet was filed against the Tandav makers.

Apart from the case at Gwalior, there were about seven cases lodged against the series makers across the country. Three FIRs were registered in Uttar Pradesh but the police themselves filed closure reports in these cases. Now with the closure of the case at Gwalior, one case at Mumbai, one in Karnataka and another in Himachal Pradesh are remaining.