A PIL filed against the web series “Patal Lok” was disposed of by the Calcutta High Court with a direction to consider the grievance that arose in this regard and pass appropriate orders.
Pranay Rai approached the High Court alleging that some parts of the “Patal Lok” were defamatory of the Nepalese Community and project it in a very bad light.
The petitioner submitted that he has filed a representation ventilating his grievance before the authority which has been arrayed as 8th respondent in the writ petition.
The court observed “We leave all issues open for the 8th respondent to decide. The 8th respondent shall take a reasoned decision on the representation made by the petitioner, in accordance with the law, after giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioner and the respondents herein and to any other party as the 8th respondent may deem fit and proper and shall dispose of the representation of the petitioner as soon as possible and preferably within a period of four weeks from the date of communication of this order to the 8th respondent”.
The court clarified that the 8th respondent shall pass orders on the representation only if he is satisfied that he is the appropriate authority having jurisdiction to entertain and determine the representation. The court said that it has not gone deep that whether the scenes should be blocked, or the 8th respondent has jurisdiction to entertain the representation.
Last month, the Punjab and Haryana High Court had issued notices to the Central Government and State Government seeking to regulate the content of web series “Patal Lok”. The notice was issued in a petition filed by the practicing Advocate of the High Court Gudeepinder Singh Dhillon who alleged that the show is “Illegal, antisocial, vulgar, abusive, minority oppressive and anti-national.”
