New Delhi: The Allahabad high court on Friday stayed the arrest of Farhan Akhtar and Ritesh Sidhwani, the producers of web-series Mirzapur in connection with an FIR that accused them of improper and indecent portrayal of the eponymous town and outraging religious belief.However, a division bench of justices Manoj Kumar Gupta and Subhash Chand directed the petitioners to offer full cooperation in the investigation while granting the relief.Hearing a writ petition filed by Akhtar and Sidhwani, the court issued notice to the Uttar Pradesh government and complainant seeking their replies and listed the case in the first week of March.The FIR was registered against Akhtar and Sidhwani at Kotwali Dehat Police Station in Mirzapur district under sections 295 A, 504, 505 and 34 of the Indian Penal Code and Section 67-A of the Information Techonology Act.According to a report in LiveLaw, the complainant, Arvind Chaturvedi, alleged that ‘certain’ content in web series depicted the town of Mirzapur (and the places within) as anti-social and infested with crime and that the series promotes illicit relationships, abusive language, casteism and portrays a wrong polluted picture of the legal system therein.The complainant also alleged that the portrayal of the town in such a manner is far away from the reality of life in Mirzapur and thereby has hurt his sentiments. The first informant also claimed that some of his acquaintances had started calling him ‘Kaaleen Bhaiya’ who is the antagonist in the series, reported LiveLaw.Also read: FIR Against Amazon Prime’s ‘Mirzapur’ for Depicting UP District in ‘Bad Light’The petitioners submitted before the court that the series was purely a work of fiction, something which was clarified via a disclaimer at the start of each episode.They also submitted that the series was created without any intention on the part of the petitioners to hurt religious feelings and sentiments or incite any class or community of persons to commit any offence or promote enmity, hatred or ill will between classes.Last week, the Supreme Court issued notices to the Centre, Amazon Prime Video, and Excel Entertainment in response to a plea seeking a ban on Mirzapur. After hearing the matter, a bench headed by CJI S.A. Bobde sought a response in connection to the plea.A resident of Mirzapur, Sujeet Kumar Singh, had moved the plea and submitted that the web series, by showing vulgar and shameless scenes, attempts to mar the name of the city. By showing every resident as a “goon, vagabond and adulterer in front of the country”, the web series had “completely tarnished the historical and cultural image of the city/district”, the plea said.(With PTI inputs)