SC grants interim protection from arrest to Ekta Kapoor in case lodged in Madhya Pradesh

New Delhi, Dec 17: The Supreme Court on Thursday granted interim protection from arrest to TV producer Ekta Kapoor in a case lodged against her in Indore for alleged objectionable content in an episode of web series "XXX season 2", which is aired on OTT platform ALT Balaji.

A bench headed by Chief Justice S A Bobde passed the order while hearing Kapoor's plea challenging the November 11 order of the Madhya Pradesh High Court which had refused to quash the FIR lodged in the case. "Issue notice.

In the meanwhile, there shall be interim stay of arrest," the bench, also comprising Justices A S Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian, said in its order. Senior advocate Mukul Rohatgi, representing Kapoor, said there is an apprehension that she might be arrested in the case.

An FIR was registered against Kapoor following a complaint alleging that an episode of the web series not only spreads obscenity, but also hurts religious feelings. The FIR was lodged under various sections of the Indian Penal Code and provision of the Information Technology Act and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act.

Kapoor, who is the managing director of ALT Digital Media Entertainment Ltd, has denied the allegations levelled against her in the case.

While refusing to quash the FIR, the high court had said that provision of section 298 of the IPC, which relates to uttering words etc with deliberate intention to hurt religious feeling, and the provision of the State Emblem Act “are not found to have been breached” in the case.