The Delhi High Court has emphasized the need for regulation of content on social media and OTT platforms to ensure that children are not exposed to vulgar language. The court's judgment was delivered in response to the use of obscene language in the TVF web series 'College Romance', which was deemed to be degrading to women. The court said that while students and workers can be punished for using profane language in schools and offices, authorities also need to regulate profanity that enters the domain of indecent speech by a broadcast medium. The court upheld an order by the Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate, directing the Delhi Police to register an FIR against TVF, the show's director, and an actor under the Information Technology Act. The court emphasized that the challenge of enacting appropriate laws, guidelines, and rules to regulate the content on social media and OTT platforms needs urgent attention. The court draws the attention of the Ministry of Information and Technology to the need to enforce the stricter application of its rules and to make any laws or rules deemed appropriate.
The court said that the excessive use of swear words, profane language, and vulgar expletives in the web series was not the language spoken by the nation's youth or citizens of the country. If such content is allowed to be aired without boundaries, it will fail to send a message that a certain standard of decency and civility is expected from electronic media. The court said that the use of profanity is a moral issue that society has to deal with, but when the content is shown through social media, it invites the attention of the court, law enforcement, and lawmaking authorities to regulate it. The court said that a web series cannot be allowed to run unhindered by taking the argument that no law makes it punishable. The court concluded that the majority of the country cannot be said to be using vulgar language in day-to-day spoken language, even in educational institutions. The court said that even if a judgment triggers a debate in society about an issue at the heart of a societal problem, it will serve the ends of justice.
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