NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2023/DHC/001683

CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 & connected matters

Page 1 of 41

$~

*

IN THE HIGH COURT OF DELHI AT NEW DELHI

%

Reserved on: 22.02.2023

Pronounced on: 06.03.2023

+

CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 & CRL.M.A. 15761/2020

TVF MEDIA LABS PVT LTD & ORS.

..... Petitioners

Through:

Mr.

Vinayak

Mehrotra,

Advocate

versus

STATE (GOVT.OF NCT OF DELHI)

& ANR.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Naresh Kumar Chahar,

APP for the State with SI

Pawan Kumar, P.S. Mukherjee

Nagar

(56)

+

CRL.M.C. 2399/2020 & CRL.M.A. 16891/2020

APOORVA ARORA & ANR.

..... Petitioners

Through:

Mr.

Siddharth

Aggarwal,

Senior Advocate with Ms.

Neha, Mr. Anirudh Gotety,

Ms. Sowjhanya Srikumar and

Mr. Vishwajeet Singh Bhati,

Advocates

versus

STATE & ANR.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Naresh Kumar Chahar,

APP for the State.

(57)

+

CRL.M.C. 2215/2020 & CRL.M.A. 15763/2020

NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2023/DHC/001683

CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 & connected matters

Page 2 of 41

MR SIMARPREET SINGH

..... Petitioner

Through:

Mr. Atul Singh and Mr.

Aatreya Singh, Advocates

versus

STATE OF NCT OF DELHI & ANR.

..... Respondents

Through:

Mr. Naresh Kumar Chahar,

APP for the State.

CORAM:

HON'BLE MS. JUSTICE SWARANA KANTA SHARMA

J U D G M E N T

Index to the Judgment

A.

FACTUAL BACKDROP ...................................................... 3

B.

SUBMISSIONS AT THE BAR ............................................ 8

C.

ANALYSIS AND FINDINGS............................................. 10

I. Legal Framework ................................................................... 11

II. Community Standard Test .................................................... 15

III. Freedom of Speech vs. Public Decency and Morality ......... 20

IV. Linguistic Morality, Obscenity and Vulgarity ..................... 27

V. Morality and Legality: Role of Courts .................................. 31

D.

CONCLUSION .................................................................... 39

SWARANA KANTA SHARMA, J.

1.

The instant petitions under Section 482 of the Code of

NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2023/DHC/001683

CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 & connected matters

Page 3 of 41

Criminal Procedure, 1973 („Cr.P.C.‟) have been filed seeking

quashing of the order dated 10.11.2020 passed in Criminal Revision

No. 260/2019 titled “TVF Media Labs Pvt. Ltd. & Ors. vs. State &

Ors.” by learned Additional Sessions Judge, Rohini District Court,

New Delhi, (hereinafter „ASJ‟) and order dated 17.09.2019 passed in

Criminal Complaint No. 1396/2019 titled “Arvind Kumar vs. TVF

Media” by learned Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate

(North), Rohini District Court, New Delhi (hereinafter „ACMM‟).

2.

This judgment shall govern the disposal of CRL.M.C.

2214/2020, CRL.M.C. 2399/2020 & CRL.M.C. 2215/2020 arising

out of common set of facts, contentions and prayer. The petitioner

no.1 in CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 is TVF Media Labs Pvt. Ltd.

(hereinafter „TVF‟) , a company incorporated under the provisions of

the Companies Act, 2013 and petitioner no. 2 and 3 are Directors and

Shareholders of petitioner no. 1. Whereas, petitioner no. 1 in

CRL.M.C. 2399/2020 is the female protagonist and petitioner no. 2 is

male protagonist in the web series titled „College Romance‟. The

petitioner in CRL.M.C. 2215/2020 is the Casting Director of the said

web series. Since the present petitions arise out of the same set of

facts and contentions and the issue before this Court in all the

petitions is also common, the same are being decided through this

common judgment.

A.FACTUAL BACKDROP

3.

The brief facts of the present case are that petitioner/TVF

Media Ltd. is owner of web series titled „College Romance‟ which is

NEUTRAL CITATION NO. 2023/DHC/001683

CRL.M.C. 2214/2020 & connected matters

Page 4 of 41

being broadcasted primarily on various internet platforms such as

YouTube, TVF Web Portal and Mobile Applications.

4.