The Indian government has summoned Netflix India’s content head over the controversy surrounding the web series ‘IC 814,’ which dramatizes the 1999 hijacking of an Indian Airlines flight.
The series depicts the high-profile incident in which India released three prisoners, including Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, Masood Azhar, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, in exchange for hostages held at Kandahar Airport, revealing significant security failures by the Indian government.
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According to NDTV, the summons from the Union Information and Broadcasting Ministry follows criticism from social media users who claim that the series misrepresented the hijackers by using fictional names like “Bhola” and “Shankar.”
Directed by Anubhav Sinha, the series is based on the book ‘Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story’ by Devi Sharan, the flight’s captain, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.
On December 24, 1999, Indian Airlines flight IC 814 departed from Kathmandu, Nepal, headed for Delhi, India, carrying 180 individuals, including crew and passengers.
The Netflix series offers a comprehensive view of the hijacking, depicting how the attackers freed 27 out of 176 passengers in Dubai, but fatally injured one and wounded several others before the week-long ordeal ended with all passengers being released.
In the series, senior officials from India’s RAW and Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) are shown debating who would be held accountable for the severe security lapse once the hijacking episode concluded.
