PIL in SC seeks autonomous body to regulate content on OTT over 'IC-814' row

New Delhi: A PIL was filed on Tuesday in the Supreme Court seeking a direction to the Centre to set up an autonomous body to "monitor and filter" content and regulate videos on over-the-top (OTT) and other platforms in India.

The PIL also referred to Netflix series IC 814:The Kandahar Hijack to highlight the need for such a regulatory mechanism as the OTT platform claimed it was based on real-life incidents.

"However, (what) the series have shown is a vile attempt to rewrite history, downplay the terror inflicted by the actual hijackers, and subtly glorify their actions...by reducing the tragedy of IC 814 to a farcical narrative, the series tried to promote the insidious agenda that seeks to whitewash the brutality of terrorism and vilify the Hindu community," said the plea filed by lawyer Shashank Shekhar Jha and Apurva Arhatia.

It said there exists a statutory film certification body- Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)- tasked with regulating public exhibition of films under the Cinematograph Act.

The cinematograph law outlines a strict certification process for commercial films shown in public venues, it said.

"However, no such body is available to monitor/regulate the OTT contents and they are only bound by the self-regulations which are not complied properly and the controversial contents are shown to the public at large without any checks and balances," the PIL said.

The petitioners who have made the ministries of Information and Broadcasting, Health and Family Welfare, Women and Child Development, Defence and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India parties to the plea, urged the top court to direct the Centre "to constitute an autonomous body/board namely 'Central Board for Regulation and Monitoring of Online Video Contents' to monitor and filter the contents and regulate the videos on various platforms for viewers in India".

The petition said such a board must be headed by a secretary-level IAS officer and shall have members from varied fields including the film industry, cinematography, media, defence forces, the legal profession and members of academia.

"The issue pertains to the abuse of fundamental rights of equality (Article 14), freedom of expression (Article 19), thus infringing right to life of people at large (Article 21) and Article 47 mandating state to improve public health and prohibit the consumption of intoxicating drinks & drugs harmful to health," it said.

The OTT and other digital media platforms have given a way out for filmmakers and artistes to release content without being worried about getting clearance certificates for films and web series from the censor board, it said.

"The Union of India and Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) introduced IT Rules 2021 to self-regulate OTT platforms, however the same has been inefficient. These unregulated portals are putting everything without any moderation and common people in India are watching the same at the comfort of their houses which could ultimately lead to various problems in the coming future," it said.

Over 40 OTT and video streaming platforms are providing “paid, ad-inclusive, and free content” to citizens and abuse the right to expression granted in Article 19, it said.