The Madras High Court on Friday dismissed a public interest litigation petition which sought to restrain streaming of actor Ramya Krishnan starrer web series Queen , a fictional rendition inspired by the life of former Chief Minister Jayalalithaa, until the completion of local body polls across the State.
Justices M. Sathyanarayanan and R. Hemalatha rejected the petition filed by P.A. Joseph who contended that the web series should not be allowed during local body polls like how a Hindi movie on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was not allowed to be released by Election Commission of India during parliamentary elections last year.
However, the judges rejected his contention on the ground that the action taken by ECI would not apply to the facts of the present case where the web serial could be viewed only after downloading a particular mobile app. Further, the makers of the web series had carried a disclaimer that it was not a biopic.
Even otherwise, the web serial may not affect the voting pattern since people do not always vote purely on the basis of political affiliation but also on the basis of the capability of the candidate concerned. “It cannot be said that voters will exercise their franchise purely on the basis of a political personality who is no more,” the judges added.
