College Romance TVF
In the case of TVF Media Labs Pvt Ltd and ors vs State Govt of NCT of Delhi and any appeals have been filed against a Delhi High Court decision from March of this year that said that the language used in the television series College Romance will deprave and corrupt the brains of young people.
Argument Advanced
The petitioner stated that the IT Act’s Section 67 should not be invoked because of vulgarity. Social media is filled with so much profanity that if we prosecute every case, who knows where we’ll wind up? According to the High Court, it resembles an act of explicit content. He continued by saying that since profanity is not illegal under current legislation and all of the content is accessible online, no evidence would be lost in this particular situation.
Delhi HC Decision
Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma of the Delhi High Court’s single bench claimed that she was forced to watch the episodes of the show in the chamber through headphones because the obscenity of the language used made it impossible for anyone nearby to hear it without becoming shocked or alarmed.
According to the High Court, morality and values in India can only be evaluated within the context of India while bearing in mind the norms of decency and civility that prevail today. The judge had made it clear that the order to file an FIR does not contain an order to detain any of the defendants. Regarding this, the High Court upheld the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate’s (ACMM) directive ordering the Delhi Police to file a first information report (FIR) against the three accused.
The Information Technology (IT) Act’s Sections 67 and 67A, which deal with the punishment for publishing or transmitting material that contains sexually explicit acts, have been interpreted by the High Court to apply to TVF, the show’s director Simarpreet Singh, and actor Apoorva Arora.
Apex Court conclusion
The Viral Fever (TVF), a content production business, challenged the filing of criminal cases in relation to their web series, College Romance, and the Supreme Court requested the Delhi Police’s response. In addition, a bench of Justices AS Bopanna and Hima Kohli issued an order extending the appellants’ earlier granted interim protection from arrest and detention while holding that at this time, it was not appropriate to grant a general stay of the inquiry or the criminal proceedings. The second week of July will mark the next hearing in this matter.