'Had to use earphones': Delhi HC judge slams 'obscene' OTT web series College Romance

The court backed an earlier order to file an FIR against the platform and its actors.

"College Romance", streaming on the OTT platform TVF, has obscene, lascivious, and profane content, the High Court observed, asking the government to take measures to check the language on such platforms.

"The power of obscenity and sexual explicitness of language used in this web series... cannot be undermined and it has a definite effect of depraving and corrupting the minds of people, especially the impressionable minds," said Justice Swarana Kanta Sharma.

The judge said she found the language "so obscene and vulgar" that she had to use earphones to watch episodes.

"The court had to watch the episodes with the aid of earphones, in the chamber, as the profanity of language used was of the extent that it could not have been heard without shocking or alarming the people around and keeping in mind the decorum of language which is maintained by a common prudent man whether in the professional or public domain or even with family members at home," the judgment said.

"Most certainly, this court notes that this is not the language that nation's youth or otherwise citizens of this country use, and this language cannot be called the frequently spoken language used in our country," it said.

The judge said the makers of the series should face action under Section 67 which deals with "lascivious" content and 67 (A) related to publishing or spreading sexually explicit content. But the direction to file an FIR does not include a direction to arrest anyone.