SC declines interim protection from arrest to makers of web series Tandav, others
New Delhi, Jan 27: The Supreme Court Wednesday declined to grant interim protection from arrest to Ali Abbas Zafar, Director of web series ''Tandav'', and others seeking quashing of FIRs against them for allegedly hurting religious sentiments of Hindus and issued notices Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and other states on their pleas.
A bench comprising justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah was hearing as many as three separate petitions of Zafar, Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Mehra, the show's writer Gaurav Solanki and actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.
Besides seeking quashing of the FIRs, the pleas have sought clubbing of FIRs.
The bench has sought responses from states such as UP, MP, Karnataka, Maharashtra, Bihar and Delhi on the pleas.
"Tandav", a nine-episode political thriller starring Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub, started streaming recently.
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Congress using hijab issue to pacify minority anger, alleges Karnataka LoP R Ashoka
Bengaluru: Leader of Opposition in the Assembly R. Ashoka has accused the Congress government of using the hijab issue to placate what he described as discontent among minority voters after the Davanagere by-election.
In a post on X on Wednesday, Ashoka alleged that the state government, instead of addressing issues such as price rise, corruption, farmers’ distress and law and order, was attempting to retain its minority vote base by reviving the hijab issue.
Referring to the 2022 dress code introduced by the BJP government, which prohibited hijab in schools and colleges, Ashoka said the Karnataka High Court had upheld the policy and emphasised the importance of discipline in educational institutions.
He questioned the Congress government’s move to revisit the issue and asked whether setting aside the court-backed policy to benefit one community could be described as secularism.
Ashoka further alleged that while the government was willing to permit hijab, it continued to prohibit saffron shawls.
He accused the government of dividing students on religious lines rather than treating schools and colleges as spaces of equality.
Drawing a comparison with Mamata Banerjee’s government in West Bengal, Ashoka claimed that excessive appeasement politics had harmed the state and warned that the Congress in Karnataka could face a similar political response.
He said voters in Karnataka would teach the Congress a lesson for what he termed “vote-bank politics” and for compromising constitutional and judicial principles.
