In a scathing letter, the NCPCR accused the Mumbai Police of delaying registration of FIR against the makers of “Bombay Begums” and even not giving any attention to the Commission’s written request.
On Wednesday, the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights wrote a letter to Maharashtra Home Secretary and Mumbai commissioner accusing them of deliberately delaying action against the makers of the controversial Netflix series “Bombay Begums” and asked them to register an FIR within the case immediately.
In separate letters to Maharashtra Home Secretary and Mumbai Police, the NCPCR mentioned that that they had received a complaint against the controversial Netflix series “Bombay Begums” in March this year, accusing the makers of showing objectionable contents. The NCPCR said that the complainants have accused the makers of showing children to be indulging in snorting drugs and taking indecent pictures and selfies within the classroom because portraying and beautifying these behaviors of children and publishing them in the country is against the spirit of the law .
In order to protect the welfare of children and children, NCPCR considers the content of the program to be offensive when taking any of the above-mentioned actions, and requests the broadcasting service to to prevent such publication. In March this year, the Commission had also asked Netflix to submit an action taken report within 24 hours, failing which it said it might be constrained to initiate appropriate action . However, as per NCPCR, Netflix didn’t act on the Commission’s complaint but merely gave a justification for all objectionable scenes from the series highlighted by the commission.
Mumbai Police fails to initiate action against makers of “Bombay Begums”
The committee stated in a letter to the government of Maharashtra that the makers violated Article 77 of the 2015 Juvenile Justice Act. Subsequently, the committee has asked the Mumbai Police Commissioner to investigate the matter and ensure that there are no other relevant child labor laws or “Guidelines for Regulating Children’s Participation in TV Series, Reality Shows, and Advertising” are violated.
The committee stated that they had applied to the Mumbai DCP law enforcement agency on April 12, requesting it to submit an FIR for the Netflix series “Mumbai Begums” on the grounds that it violated the 2015 Juvenile Justice Act and various POCSO regulations. However, despite the committee’s instructions, the Mumbai police did not file any complaints against the makers of the controversial series, stating that they need“permission from higher authorities” as this matter falls in the grey area and without the approval of higher officers, they can’t lodge an FIR in the matter.
“The Commission fails to understand that how a cognizable offense U/sec. 77 of Juvenile Justice Act, 2015 falls in the grey area and why Mumbai Police is not willing to register an FIR, despite this being cognizable offence,” NCPCR said in its letter to Manu Kumar Shrivastva, Additional Chief Secretary.
In In a severe letter, NCPCR accused the Mumbai police of delaying the FIR registration of the “Mumbai Begums” makers, even ignoring the committee’s written request. “Since, this is a serious issue where police is not following the laid procedure of the land, hence, you are requested to look into this matter and ensure that no further child rights and law of land is violated in this matter,” the NCPCR chief wrote to Maharashtra government.
After some Twitter users called the OTT platform’s latest web series “Mumbai Begums” a misrepresentation of children, the NCPCR learned of the anger online. The apex child rights body has asked Netflix to stop broadcasting the recently launched web series “Mumbai Begums” on the grounds that the image of children in the web series is inappropriate.
