You are polluting minds of young generation of this country: SC slams Ekta Kapoor
New Delhi (PTI): The Supreme Court Friday came down heavily on producer Ekta Kapoor over "objectionable content" in her web series 'XXX', saying she was polluting the minds of the young generation of this country.
The top court was hearing a plea filed by Kapoor challenging the arrest warrants issued against her for allegedly insulting soldiers and hurting the sentiments of their families in the web series aired on her OTT platform ALTBalaji.
"Something has to be done. You are polluting the minds of the young generation of this country. It is available to all. OTT (Over The Top) content is available to all. What kind of choice are you providing to the people?....on the contrary you are polluting the minds of youngsters," a bench of Justices Ajay Rastogi and C T Ravikumar said.
The court made the observation after senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, appearing for Kapoor, submitted that a petition has been filed before the Patna high court but there is no hope the matter will be listed for hearing soon.
He said the top court had earlier granted protection to Kapoor in a similar matter.
Rohatgi said the content is subscription based and that there is freedom of choice in this country.
The court, which stopped short of imposing costs, then wondered what kind of choice is being given to people.
"Everytime you travel to this court....we don't appreciate this. We will put a cost on you for filing such a petition. Mr Rohatgi please convey this to your client. Just because you can afford and hire the services of good lawyers....this court is not for those who have voices.
"This court works for those who don't have voices...if these people who have all kinds of facilities, if they cannot get justice then think of the situation of this common man. We have seen the order and we have our reservations," the bench observed.
The top court kept the matter pending and suggested a local lawyer may be put to work to know about the status of hearing in the high court.
A trial court in Bihar's Begusarai had issued the warrant on a complaint lodged by Shambhu Kumar, an ex-serviceman.
Kumar, in his complaint of 2020, alleged series 'XXX' (Season-2) featured several objectionable scenes related to a soldier's wife.
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Wayanad LS bypoll: Priyanka crosses lead achieved by Rahul in 2024 Lok Sabha polls
Wayanad (Kerala) (PTI): Top Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was on Saturday comfortably cruising towards her maiden electoral win from Wayanad in Kerala, as she surpassed the lead achieved by her brother Rahul Gandhi in the 2024 Lok Sabha polls earlier this year with party leaders and ally IUML predicting a big win for her amid the counting trends.
The Congress-led UDF's candidate from this hill constituency, Priyanka, extended her lead by over 3.8 lakh votes after five hours of counting of the ballots in the Wayanad Lok Sabha bypoll, according to the Election Commission.
Reacting to the lead achieved by Priyanka, Congress' ally Indian Union Muslim League and Telangana Chief Minister A Revanth Reddy said she would get more votes than her brother Rahul Gandhi in the Lok Sabha polls in April this year and will win by a record margin.
"An amazing first trend on counting day is the massive early lead for our leader @priyankagandhi ji in Wayanad, Kerala, by-election. People of Wayanad are surely going to record in victory margins today and Priyanka ji will make Parliamentary debut with a grand win," Reddy said in a post on 'X'.
IUML supremo Panakkad Sadiq Ali Shihab Thangal said that going by the trends, Priyanka will get more votes than what Rahul got and the majority she achieves would also be higher than that of her brother.
A similar view was expressed by IUML's national general secretary P K Kunhalikutty.
On the other hand, BJP leader Anil K Antony, earlier in the day, had claimed that though Priyanka has achieved a good lead, her victory margin would be less than what Rahul got in the 2024 and 2019 LS polls in the hill constituency.
According to the latest EC figures, Priyanka had a lead of 3,82,975 with 5,78,526 votes. LDF's Sathyan Mokeri was behind her with 1,95,551 votes and NDA's Navya Haridas was in the third spot with 1,04,947 votes.
Rahul had got 6,47,445 votes and won by a margin of 3,64,422 votes against his nearest rival, CPI's Annie Raja, in the LS polls this year. In 2019, he had got 7,06,367 votes and had won by a margin of 4,31,770 votes.
After winning from Rae Bareilly in Uttar Pradesh as well, in this year's polls, Rahul vacated the Wayanad seat, and the party nominated his sister Priyanka, paving the way for her electoral debut.
The bypoll turnout in Wayanad, which has over 14 lakh registered voters, was around 65 per cent, a decline from the close to 74 per cent in the LS polls held in April this year and much lower than the over 80 per cent turnout in the hill constituency in the 2019 general elections.
The counting of votes commenced at 8 am with postal ballots being taken up first.
The strong rooms, where the EVMs were kept, were opened more than an hour before counting began.
The bypoll for the Wayanad Lok Sabha seat was held on November 13.
Of the 16 candidates who contested, the main contenders are Priyanka, ruling CPI(M)-led LDF's Sathyan Mokeri, a political veteran, and BJP-headed NDA's Navya Haridas.
