met with representatives of streaming platforms including ALTBalaji, Disney Plus Hotstar, Amazon, Netflix, Jio, ZEE5, Viacom18, Shemaroo and MX Player and assured them that “the rules focus on self-classification of content instead of any form of censorship.” He also clarified that in the self-regulating body, no member will be appointed by the government. If complaints remain unsolved at the self-regulatory level, the government will create an inter-departmental committee to look at those.
These statements were directly contradicted on Friday while the Supreme Court was granting protection to Purohit. The court had asked the government to submit the guidelines and upon going through them, observed: “There is no teeth. No power of prosecution. These are just guidelines. No mechanism to control it. Without legislation you cannot control it.”
In response to this, India’s Solicitor General Tushar Mehta said that the government would prepare a draft law and submit it to the court.