What did the court say?
On Monday (May 11), the Punjab and Haryana High Court set aside the Centre’s advisory against its release, issuing orders to its makers to remove references to “Lawrence” and “Punjab” from the docu-series title.
During the proceedings, Zee Entertainment informed court that the creative team will decide a new title for the series and sought time to finalise it. It further assured the court that the new title will not include the name “Lawrence Bishnoi”.
Additionally, the High Court also observed that they watched the docu-series and found “nothing objectionable”. The court also added that the project appears to rely largely on newspaper reports and publicly available material.
However, Punjab’s Advocate General argued that all references to Bishnoi should be removed from the project. On the other hand, Bishnoi’s counsel also sought the removal of the gangster’s name and photographs from the series. The court then questioned the lawyer on whether any permissions were taken when Bishnoi had given media interviews in the past.
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What was the controversy all about?
Lawrence of Punjab was set to release on Zee5 on April 27. However, before its release, Punjab Advocate General M S Bedi opposed its release, citing that it could influence youth by normalising organised crime. It was followed by a case filed by Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, who demanded a ban on the docu-series.