SC rejects petition to form a board to monitor OTT

New Delhi: A PIL was filed in the Supreme Court demanding the formation of a board to monitor the programs of OTT Platform. But, a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud, Justice JB Pardiwala and Justice Manoj Mishra has refused to hear this petition. The court said that this is a policy matter. The government will look into it.

In fact, lawyer Shashank Jha had filed a PIL in the Supreme Court in September this year. Citing the Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack, the petition alleged that the OTT platform has become a means of promoting banned things for advertisements like gambling, drugs, alcohol, smoking etc. Before anything is released on OTT, it does not go through the certification process, due to which the scenes are shown without any warning. According to the petitioner, the government made IT guidelines in 2021, but it had no effect on OTT.

It was said in the petition that the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certifies films in India, but there is no system to give certificate of screening to OTT programs after watching them. Shows full of obscenity and abusive language are being shown indiscriminately on OTT. This also affects national security.

Also, evils like drug abuse and gambling are also encouraged. Citing these reasons, the petitioner had demanded the formation of a board to monitor the programs of the OTT platform.