PIL Filed in Delhi High Court Against Netflix Series IC 814: The Kandhar Hijack Seeking Ban for Distorting Terrorists’ Identities

A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) has been filed in the Delhi High Court seeking a ban on the Netflix series IC 814: The Kandhar Hijack. The petition, submitted by Surjit Singh Yadav, alleges that the series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, “distorts the actual identities” of the terrorists by assigning them Hindu names.

What Has Happened?

On September 1, social media users accused the Netflix series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack of “hiding the real identities of the terrorists” involved in the 1999 hijacking, according to PTI.

In response, casting director Mukesh Chhabra stated that the terrorists used nicknames for each other and assured that thorough research was conducted for the show.

Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series portrays the December 24, 1999 hijacking of an Indian aircraft by five terrorists, which occurred 40 minutes after the plane took off from Kathmandu. The series began streaming on Netflix on August 29.

On social media, users began using hashtags #BoycottNetflix, #BoycottBollywood, and #IC814, accusing the makers of IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack of changing the names of the hijackers to ‘Shankar’ and ‘Bhola’ to protect their identities, suggesting that they belonged to a particular community.

About the Kandahar Hijack Incident

On December 24, 1999, five terrorists—Ibrahim Athar, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Zahoor Ibrahim, Shahid Akhter, and Sayed Shakir—hijacked the IC-814 aircraft during its flight from Kathmandu, Nepal, to Delhi, India, according to PTI.

The hijackers held at least 154 passengers and crew hostage for eight days. The crisis ended when the terrorists Masood Azhar, Omar Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar were released in exchange for the hostages. External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh then flew them on a special plane to Kandahar.

The series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack features actors Vijay Varma, Naseeruddin Shah, Pankaj Kapur, Manoj Pahwa, Kumud Mishra, Arvind Swamy, Dia Mirza, and Patralekhaa, among others.