IC 814 Row: IB Ministry Summons Netflix India’s Head of Content Over Hijackers’ Names
Vijay Verma’s thriller series IC814 Kandahar Hijack is now available on the OTT giant Netflix. The series centers around the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight IC 814. However, after its release, the series became embroiled in a major controversy, leading to the summoning of Netflix India’s content head by the government. The summon followed accusations from hundreds of social media users who criticised the makers for allegedly changing the names of the hijackers to “Bhola” and “Shankar.”
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The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has summoned Monika Shergill, the content chief of Netflix India, to appear on Tuesday, September 2, to provide an explanation regarding the allegedly controversial elements of the web series. The series, directed by Anubhav Sinha, is inspired by the book Flight Into Fear: The Captain’s Story by Devi Sharan, the captain of the flight, and journalist Srinjoy Chowdhury.
The series delves into the hijacking of Indian Airlines Flight 814 on December 24, 1999. The flight, carrying a total of 191 passengers, took off from Kathmandu, Nepal, and was headed for Delhi. The series features five hijackers who soon took control of the plane. The flight made several stops, including in Amritsar, Lahore, and Dubai, before finally landing in Kandahar, Afghanistan.
At the time, the Indian government, led by Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was forced to release several dreaded terrorists, including Masood Azhar, Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh, and Mushtaq Ahmed Zargar, from Indian prisons. The Union Ministry also released the names of the hijackers in 2000: Ibrahim Athar, Shahid Akhtar Sayed, Sunny Ahmed Qazi, Mistri Zahoor Ibrahim, and Shakir.
“To the passengers of the hijacked plane, these hijackers came to be known respectively as (1) Chief, (2) Doctor, (3) Burger, (4) Bhola, and (5) Shankar, the names by which the hijackers invariably addressed one another,” the Home Ministry’s statement says.
