HC Banned Lawrence Bishnoi's Interviews. PIL Asks: How Can His Web Series Stream?
Congress MP Raja Warring moves Punjab and Haryana High Court against ZEE5’s ‘Lawrence of Punjab’, scheduled to premiere April 27; separately writes to PM Modi seeking ban
North Desk Correspondent
Chandigarh, April 23
When the Punjab and Haryana High Court took suo motu cognisance of Lawrence Bishnoi’s jailhouse interviews in 2023 and ordered their removal from social media platforms for glorifying crime, it set a clear judicial precedent. Now, with a full-fledged web series based on the gangster’s life set to premiere on ZEE5 on April 27, Punjab Congress president and Ludhiana MP Amarinder Singh Raja Warring has asked the same court a pointed question: if interviews were banned, how can a dramatised series celebrating his rise be allowed?
Warring issued a statement said he has filed a Public Interest Litigation in the High Court, seeking an urgent stay on the release of ‘Lawrence of Punjab’. The petition is listed for hearing tomorrow, April 24.
The PIL draws directly on the court’s own December 2023 order, where a division bench headed by Justice Anupinder Singh Grewal and Justice Kirti Singh had categorically observed that Bishnoi’s televised interviews by a Punjabi channel glorified crime, created an adverse impact on impressionable minds, and had the potential to disturb public order. The court had directed removal and blocking of those videos and URLs from all social media platforms including YouTube.
Warring’s petition argues that a dramatised web series portraying Bishnoi’s “rise” from student politician to head of a criminal syndicate operating out of Punjab is qualitatively no different — and potentially far more harmful given OTT’s unrestricted reach across age groups and geographies.
https://northdesk.in/lawrence-of-punjab-zee5-row-who-is-lawrence-bishnoi/Who is Lawrence Bishnoi and how the Docuseries has triggered a row in Punjab
The OTT Regulatory Gap
A central argument in the PIL is the stark disparity between how films and OTT content are regulated. Films intended for public exhibition must clear mandatory pre-certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) under the Cinematograph Act, 1952, which can direct cuts, modifications or refuse certification altogether. OTT platforms like ZEE5, by contrast, operate under the Information Technology (Intermediary Guidelines and Digital Media Ethics Code) Rules, 2021 — a largely self-regulatory framework with no mandatory pre-screening mechanism.
The petition argues this creates a regulatory vacuum where content that might be denied certification for cinema can be freely streamed online, reaching a potentially larger and younger audience without any independent scrutiny.
The PIL names six respondents: the Union of India through the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology; the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting; ZEE Entertainment Enterprises Limited; the Grievance Officer of ZEE5; Riverland Entertainment Pvt Ltd (the production company, based in Gurugram); and the State of Punjab.
What the PIL Seeks
The petition asks the court to issue a writ in the nature of Mandamus directing respondents to stop, ban or stay the release and streaming of the series. In the alternative, it seeks directions for modification or removal of content that glorifies or promotes criminal activities. It also asks for stricter regulatory guidelines for OTT platforms governing content based on real-life criminals, independent pre-release review mechanisms in line with CBFC principles, and mandatory disclaimers clarifying that the content does not endorse criminal conduct.
Punjab’s Own Policy Framework
The petition also cites the State of Punjab’s own actions against gangster glorification to strengthen its case. It references a November 2022 order by the Punjab Home Department banning songs promoting glorification of weapons and violence, and a December 2022 order constituting a high-level committee to formulate laws against gangster culture.
The petition argues that a web series glorifying the very gangster whose content the state has been trying to suppress runs directly counter to this established policy framework.
Letter to the Prime Minister
Separately, Warring has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on April 23, urging his personal intervention to direct the Ministries of Information and Broadcasting and Information Technology to ban the series.
In the letter, Warring described Punjab as the holy land of Gurus, Rishis and Pirs, and asked: “Should such a holy land with a glorious history and culture be identified with a gangster?” He warned that glorifying the gangster culture would leave a dangerous impact on impressionable young minds. “Instead of discouraging crime and gangster culture, which we all should aspire for, the web series will glorify it,” he wrote.
The series is classified on the ZEE5 platform as a Crime Documentary, rated U/A 16+, with audio in Hindi.
