The Bombay High Court on Thursday said it has not found anything against the prosecution or the trial in the Netflix docu-series on Indrani Mukerjea, accused of killing her daughter Sheena Bora.
A division bench of Justices Revati Mohite Dere and Manjusha Deshpande dismissed the petition filed by the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI), seeking a stay on the release of the movie till the trial in the case is complete.
This paves the way for the release of the series on OTT platform Netflix. The bench said it had viewed the series and found nothing in it that would prejudice the trial or the prosecution. The docu-series, titled 'The Indrani Mukerjea Story: The Buried Truth', delves into the disappearance of 25-year-old Bora and was scheduled to premiere on streaming platform Netflix on February 23.
The bench had last week directed Netflix to hold a special screening of the series for the CBI officers and lawyers concerned. Netflix had then said it would not air the series till Thursday (February 29). On Thursday, Additional Solicitor General Devang Vyas, appearing for the CBI, said the series prejudices administration of justice and fair trial.
He claimed that it may create a public perception which would in turn affect the judicial mind. The high court, however, noted that it too had watched the series and had in fact thought that the CBI would not press its demand against the series. "There is nothing in the series that goes against the prosecution or the trial. We tried to look at it in every single way, but honestly we did not find anything," the bench said.
It added that not a single witness, whose interview has been taken by the makers of the series, have said any single word against the prosecution. "Not a single witness has said anything. Let us not say much as the series is yet to be released. Tell us which witness has spoken which is contrary to the prosecution? In fact it is favouring the prosecution," the high court said.