Netflix India on September 3 said that it had included the real and code names of the hijackers of the Indian Airlines plane shown in Anubhav Sinha’s web series IC 814: The Kandahar Hijack following widespread criticism of the depiction of “humane” treatment of the hijackers and their Hindu code names. The government took the matter very seriously and voiced concern about the depiction of terrorists belonging to Pakistan-based terror group Harkat-ul-Mujahideen, who had hijacked the Indian Airlines flight in 1999. The real names of the hijackers were Ibrahim Akthar, Shahid Akhtar Sayeed, Sunny Ahmad Qazi, Zahoor Mistry and Sayed Shakir. However, the series referred to the code names used by the terrorists, which were Bhola, Shankar, Doctor, Burger and Chief.
Monika Shergill, Netflix India’s vice president, met information and broadcasting secretary Sanjay Jaju in Delhi recently. She said, Netflix had revised the opening disclaimer of the show to include the real and code names of the hijackers.