NEW DELHI: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) has issued an order asking Netflix to immediately remove specific scenes involving minors which are cited to be objectionable from the Bombay Begums series and asked it to stop streaming the series until then, the Times of India has reported.
It has also sought an action taken report within the next three days.
According to the report, the child rights body has also directed Mumbai police commissioner to take action with regards to the content in the series cited in the order and report back within a week. NCPCR has also given Netflix time till 18 March to reply.
The order was passed following a meeting of Netflix officials with NCPCR to discuss the issues pertaining to representing and portrayal of children in the series Bombay Begums.
“After detailed deliberations, the commission is of the view that these particular scenes are in violation of relevant sections of JJ Act, 2015, POCSO Act 2012 and IPC, 1860 as minor children were used in these scenes. Therefore, Netflix is directed to immediately remove these scenes from the series and meanwhile till the time they come to any decision in this regard, they shall stop the streaming of this series on their platform,” Kanoongo asserts in the order, according to the TOI report.
As reported earlier, the NCPCR had issued a notice to OTT platform Netflix to stop streaming Bombay Begums. According to the notice, the commission received complaints from two Twitter handles regarding the Netflix original. The objections have been raised in regards to a scene where a 13-year-old girl is seen “snorting cocaine” at a party, as well as another plot point dealing with school girls sending nude selfies to members of the opposite sex.
NCPCR had stated that the series with this type of content will pollute young minds and may result in abuse and exploitation of children at the hands of perpetrators and offenders and it does not allow representing, portraying, glorifying children in India in such manner on any platform including streaming services.
Bombay Begums, written and directed by Alankrita Shrivastava, started streaming on 8 March and revolves around five women whose lives are interconnected.
The action comes days after Netflix’s arch rival Amazon Prime Video issued an apology for its series Tandav in the wake of widespread furore over the depiction of Hindu deities.
Meanwhile, the government has also notified new rules to better monitor and regulate the content on new age entertainment platforms consisting of a three-tier redressal mechanism.
