Centre Invokes Section 69A to Pull Diljit Dosanjh Film From ZEE5

The government ordered ZEE5 to remove the Diljit Dosanjh-starrer Satluj under Section 69A of the Information Technology Act and the IT Rules, 2021. The platform complied within two days of the film's silent release on July 3, pulling it from Indian viewers by the evening of July 5.

The takedown centers on a film originally titled Punjab '95, which the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had demanded 127 cuts from in 2022. The makers refused those cuts, withdrew a challenge in the Bombay High Court a year later, and eventually released the film on OTT under a new title–Satluj–without implementing any of the suggested edits.

That gap–between CBFC jurisdiction (theatrical) and the OTT regulatory framework–is the mechanism at work here. OTT platforms in India fall under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021, not the Cinematograph Act. The Code of Ethics under Part III of those rules requires platforms to avoid content that threatens national security, sovereignty, or public order. Section 69A of the IT Act gives the government direct blocking power on those same grounds.

What Section 69A Actually Does

Section 69A lets the government block public access to any online content if it threatens India's sovereignty, integrity, defence, security, relations with foreign states, or public order. The Ministry of Electronics and IT issues the direction; the platform must comply immediately or face legal consequences. There is no prior judicial review–the order is executive, though platforms can later challenge it.

In this case, officials said the direction cited