Indian child rights protections body, National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR), has asked Netflix to halt airing ‘Bombay Begums’ after reviewing complaints about scenes showing children using drugs.
In a letter to Netflix NCPCR asked the U.S. streaming giant to investigate the matter and submit a report within 24 hours or face further action.
The NCPCR notice referred to a tweet where a user objected to a scene showing “minors having cocaine”.
“The series with this type of content will not only pollute the young minds of children, and may also result in abuse and exploitation of children,” the NCPCR notice said.
Bombay Begums, released this week, is a series about five women from different parts of society trying to get ahead in modern Mumbai, formerly called Bombay.
The controversy is the latest to hit video streaming platforms like Netflix and Amazon Prime Video in India, where they have faced complaints also around promoting obscenity or hurting religious sentiments. Industry executives say such complaints go against freedom of speech and expression in the country.
Several users on Friday tweeted their objections and support for the new Netflix show, making #BombayBegums a top trend on the microblogging website.
