SC grants anticipatory bail to Kundra, Sherlyn, Poonam Pandey in case of obscene OTT platforms

Models Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey and one Umesh Kamat were also granted anticipatory bails

The Supreme Court Tuesday granted advance bail to Bollywood actor Shilpa Shetty's husband businessman Raj Kundra, and actresses Sherlyn Chopra and Poonam Pandey in a case relating to creating obscene content and showing it on OTT platforms.

A bench of Justice K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna told the three accused to cooperate with the investigating agency during the period.

The court also noted the chargesheet was already filed against the accused persons in the case.

The bench also asked all the accused to approach the Mumbai trial court concerned for regular bail.

The Maharashtra police did not oppose the anticipatory bail pleas of the accused.

The court initially wondered whether bail can be granted in a case like this by asking, "What message will it send to society?" However, the bench finally said, "We will protect you till you can go to the court for regular bail."

Senior advocate R Basant and advocate Sunil Fernandes appeared for the accused.

Earlier too, the court had granted protection to Raj, Poonam, Sherlyn Chopra and Umesh Kamat in proceedings against them.

A complaint was filed by Madhukar Keni on October 31, 2021 with Nodal Cyber Police Station against Raj Kundra, Poonam Pandey, Sherlyn Chopra and various others under Sections 292 of the IPC, Sections 67 and 67A of the Information Technology Act, 2000 and under Sections 3 and 4 of Indecent Women Representation Act, 1986.

The complainant alleged that websites broadcasting/exhibiting indecent video, audio files having lascivious, lustful, offensive sexual desire messages and videos are openly available through the internet.

Various Over-The-Top (OTT) Platforms viz Hotshots, Alt Balaji, Kooku, Primeflix, Flizmovies, Banana Prime were roped in as accused. It was alleged that OTT Platforms were used for the purpose of illegal financial gains and to get benefits through mobile applications.