BHOPAL, BENGALURU: Despite makers of Tandav web series issuing an unconditional apology and also removing the contentious scenes from the nine-episode series, FIRs by right-wing Hindu outfits continue to be lodged against the cast and crew of the Saif Ali Khan-starrer, in the BJP-ruled Madhya Pradesh.
A fresh FIR was registered by Keshav Sharma, a leader of the RSS-affiliated Hindu Jagaran Manch at the Guna Cantt police station on Thursday late night. This is the third FIR that has been lodged over the controversial series within three days in the central Indian state.
A social activist from Bengaluru has also filed a complaint against the series. The complainant, Kiran Aradya, filed the complaint with the KR Puram police on Friday against director Ali Abbas Zafar, producer Farhan Akthar, actors Mohammed Zeeshan and Saif Ali Khan as well as creative head of Amazon Prime, Aparna Purohit.
Demanding action, Kiran alleged that the series shows a Hindu God using abusive words that was done intentionally to insult and hurt Hindu sentiments.
A senior police officer said that the case was filed under IPC sections 295 A — destruction, damage, or defilement of a place of worship or an object held sacred, with an intent to insult the religion of a class of persons, 298 — words with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person, 153(A) — promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence and language and 34 — acts done by several persons with common intention.
“We will take the opinion of legal experts before taking action. However, we came to know that the controversial scenes have already been removed by the team as complaints were lodged against them across the country,” police said.