'IC 814' controversy: PIL in Delhi HC against Anubhav Sinha-directorial over hijackers' names

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was filed in the Delhi High Court on Monday seeking a ban on the OTT series 'IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack' over allegations of distortion of facts about the real identities of the hijackers.

The plea alleged that the miniseries erroneously shows the real hijackers as having Hindu names, including 'Bhola' and 'Shankar', which hurt the sentiments of the Hindu community.

The petition, filed by Surjit Singh Yadav, a farmer and president of Hindu Sena, sought a direction to the Centre and Maharashtra government to cancel the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate and ban the public viewing of the series.

"The distortion of crucial facts about the real identities of the hijackers not only misrepresents historical events but also perpetuates harmful stereotypes and misinformation, warranting interference of this court to prevent further public misunderstanding and potential harm," the petition says.

Meanwhile, the central government has summoned the content head of Netflix India Monika Shergil over the series, which has triggered a row over the depiction of hijackers, contending that nobody has the right to play with the sentiments of the nation.

Official sources said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has summoned the content head of Netflix India on Tuesday, seeking an explanation on the allegedly contentious aspects of the series portraying the 1999 hijack of an Indian Airlines flight by Pakistan-based terror outfit Harkat-ul-Mujahideen.

The series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, was released on Netflix India on August 29. Based on the real-life hijacking of IC-814 in Kandahar, the series chronicles the experience of passengers and crew members on board the ill-fated flight. 

The series features Vijay Varma, Pankaj Kapur, Naseeruddin Shah, Manoj Pahwa, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, Aditya Srivastava, Amrita Puri, Dibyendu Bhattacharya, Kumud Mishra, Patralekhaa and Anupam Mishra in significant roles.