Netflix puts Indrani Mukerjea docuseries on hold, to arrange screening for CBI
The streaming service argued that showing the series to the investigating agency would amount to “pre-censorship”, which the bureau cannot do by law.
Streaming platform Netflix on Thursday told the Bombay High Court that its documentary series on the former media executive Indrani Mukerjea, who is accused of murdering her daughter Sheena Bora, will not be aired until further notice, The Indian Express reported.
The series Buried Truth: The Indrani Mukerjea Story was to be released on Friday. The trailer of the show directed by Shaana Levy and Uraaz Bahl has also been removed from the platform’s YouTube page.
The court is scheduled to hear a petition seeking a stay on the documentary’s release by the Central Bureau of Investigation on February 29. Netflix’s counsel assured the High Court that the series will be screened for representatives of the law enforcement agency and the court.
Mukerjea had allegedly strangled her daughter to death in a car on April 24, 2012. Bora’s body was burnt and dumped in a forest in Maharashtra’s Raigad district. Mukerjea was arrested in 2015.
In 2022, the Supreme Court granted Mukerjea bail noting that she had been incarcerated for six and a half years and that the case’s trial is unlikely to be completed soon.
On Thursday, a division bench of Justices Revati Mohite-Dere and Justice Manjusha A Deshpande was hearing a petition submitted by the Central Bureau of Investigation after a special court on Tuesday rejected its request to stay the series from airing.
The agency told the Bombay High Court that the makers of the documentary had interviewed five witnesses in the case and that airing their footage would impact the ongoing trial, LiveLaw reported. Three of the interviewed witnesses have been examined by the Central Bureau of Investigation and two are yet to be examined.
The Bombay High Court asked Netflix why the agency could not watch the series before its release, The Indian Express reported. “[Mukerjea] is an accused,” the court said. “One of the bail conditions is not to tamper [with] evidence.”
Senior advocate Ravi Kadam, appearing for Netflix, argued that stalling the series’ release and screening it for the Central Bureau of Investigation was “pre-censorship”, which the agency cannot do by law, and which could also affect Mukerjea’s right to a fair trial under Article 21 of the Constitution (Right to Life).
Kadam told the court that the series showcased information that is already available in the public domain and that there was no gag order against the witnesses who had been interviewed.
The court, in response, emphasized that the trial is yet ongoing. “Evidence is being recorded and witnesses are being examined,” the bench said, rejecting Kadam’s argument that rights of the accused should be considered over that of the prosecution's, reported LiveLaw.
Advocate Abhinav Chandrachud, representing the makers of the documentary, said that Mukerjea has authored and published a book on the case, to which the law enforcement agency had no objection.
The Central Bureau of Investigation pointed out that the Supreme Court, at the time of granting Mukerjea bail in 2022, had chosen to not make certain statements in the bail order to avoid prejudicing the trial.