A bench comprising Justices Ashok Bhushan, R Subhash Reddy and M R Shah was hearing as many as three separate petitions of filmmaker Ali Abbas Zafar, Amazon Prime India head Aparna Purohit, producer Himanshu Mehra, the show’s writer Gaurav Solanki and actor Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.

The apex court also asked the makers of the web series to approach the high court for anticipatory bail or quashing of FIRs.

“We cannot use the power under Section 482 CrPC. We are not inclined to grant interim protection,” the Bench said.

The court also issued notices to Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka governments seeking their response on pleas for quashing FIRs against the makers.

Multiple FIRs were filed against the makers of Tandav in different cities of the country for allegedly hurting religious sentiments. As the controversy picked pace, the makers of Tandav said they will drop certain scenes from the web series.

A nine-episode political thriller that started streaming earlier this month in Amazon Prime Video, Tandav stars Bollywood A-listers Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia and Mohd Zeeshan Ayyub.

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The political drama series, released on Amazon Prime Video last week, is facing flak for allegedly depicting Hindu gods in a manner hurtful to religious sentiments of people.

An official statement from the cast and crew of Tandav said, “We have been closely monitoring viewer reactions to the web series Tandav and today during a discussion, the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting informed us regarding a large number of grievances and petitions received on various facets of the web series with serious concerns and apprehensions regarding its content hurting the sentiments of the people.

“Tandav is a work of fiction and any resemblance to acts and persons and events is purely coincidental. The cast and crew did not have any intention to offend the sentiments of any individual, caste, community, race, religion or religious beliefs or insult or outrage any institution, political party or person, living or dead.

“The cast and crew of Tandav take cognizance of the concerns expressed by the people and unconditionally apologize if it has unintentionally hurt anybodys sentiments,” the statement said.

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The FIR has been filed against director Ali Abbas Zafar, writer Gaurav Solanki, Amazon Prime’s India head of original content Aparna Purohit and Tandav’s producer Himanshu Krishna Mehra.

The FIR has been registered under sections 153 A (promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language), 295 (injuring or defiling place of worship with intent to insult the religion of any class), 505 (1) (B) (statements conducing to public mischief with intent to cause, or which is likely to cause, fear or alarm to the public, or to any section of the public whereby any person may be induced to commit an offence against the State or against the public tranquility), 469 (forgery for purpose of harming reputation) and 505 (2) (Whoever commits an offence specified in sub-section (2) in any place of worship or in any assembly engaged in the performance of religious worship or religious ceremonies, shall be punished with imprisonment which may extend to five years and shall also be liable to fine) along with sections of the IT Act.

Earlier, a BJP MLA had written to Information Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar demanding an immediate ban on the web series and Amazon Prime Video. He also demanded to impose National Security Act on Ali Abbas Zafar, Saif Ali Khan and Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub.

Tandav was premiered on Amazon Prime Video on January 15. It stars Saif Ali Khan, Dimple Kapadia, Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub, Sunil Grover, Tigmanshu Dhulia, Kumud Mishra, among others. The show focuses on the story of Samar Pratap (Saif Ali Khan) and his quest to inherit the chair of PM from his father Devki Nandan (Tigmanshu Dhulia), who isn’t willing to retire yet.

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