As per The Hindu, the plea was made in reference to the show Gandi Baat by ALT Balaji.
““[The show] is offensive to women. It expresses ideas which are indecent and lewd and thus obscene. It has scenes where a man is sexually harassing his daughter-in-law.”
The plea further made references to the Netflix series Sacred Games starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, Saif Ali Khan and Radhika Apte, and its use of obscenity, vulgarity, nudity for the sake of attention.
The PIL stated that broadcasting web shows, films or other program containing “obscene, nude and vulgar scenes” are cognizable offences under the Cinematograph Act, Indian Penal Code, Indecent Representation of Women (Prohibition) Act and Information Technology Act. As such, not only seeking action against the web service providers, it also demanded that a pre-screening committee is set up, akin to a certification board, before such content is released on online platforms.
Most interestingly, the petitioner has also given the examples of North Korea and China, on why such certification and censorship is in public interest, to make case for her argument.
The two judge division bench of Justice Bhushan Dharmadhikari and Justice M G Biradkar heard Shyam Dewani, the petitioner’s lawyer, and issued a notice to Assistant Solicitor General of India UM Aurangabadkar, who appears on behalf of the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, Ministry of Law and Justice, Ministry of Home Affairs and also the Nagpur police commissioner, seeking replies by October 31.
Find a copy of the notice here.