Streaming platform Zee5 on Monday informed the Delhi High Court that it is challenging the Union government’s advice asking it to stop the release of docuseries on gangster Lawrence Bishnoi before the Punjab and Haryana High Court, as it relies on the inputs of the Punjab Police.
Zee5’s lawyer Amit Sibal told a bench of Justice Puruchindra Kumar Kaurav about the challenge in Bishnoi’s plea seeking to stop the release of the serial.
Sibal said the Delhi High Court lacked jurisdiction to entertain the petition against the ban, as the root cause of the order arose in Punjab.
The Delhi High Court took notice of the submission and closed the petition, observing that the platform was unlikely to go ahead with the release of the series in light of the advisory. She indicated that Zee5 is considering appealing the consultation before the competent court.
“In view of the counsel, the Court finds that respondent No. 3 [Zee5] Contents may not be published — Lawrence Punjab. The court said that the petition has been decided.
The docuseries was scheduled to be released on Monday. According to the makers, the series traces the evolution of criminal identity through the lens of culture, systems and vision, and presents Bishnoi as a case study within the ecosystem of student politics, music, ideology and media hype.
Bishnoi (33 years old), who is imprisoned in Gujarat, faces several criminal cases. He is one of the main accused in the murder of singer Sidhu Musiwala.
The Union government last week issued an advisory to Zee5 not to publish the content, saying the Punjab Police had informed it of reasonable apprehension that such content may be prejudicial to public order and has the potential to incite the commission of a cognizable offence.
