The Supreme Court today stayed the West Bengal government’s order banning the public screening of movie ‘The Kerala Story’. The court said the May 8 order suffers from “overbreadth” and is not based on any material produced before Court.
It said that statutory provisions cannot be used to “put a premium on public intolerance” and hinted that it may stay the West Bengal government’s order banning the movie, “The Kerala Story”.
A bench headed by Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said it is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order as the film has been granted certification by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
“Bad films bomb at the box office,” the bench said.
“The legal provision cannot be used to put a premium on public intolerance. Otherwise, all films will find themselves in this spot,” the bench, also comprising justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, said during the hearing which is still on.
The states cannot sit in appeal over the grant of certification to the movie, said senior advocate Harish Salve appearing for the producer of the movie.
Meanwhile one of the petitioner in the case Qurban Ali said that his stand vindicated as it heared SLP
“We are thankful to the honourable Supreme Court for hearing our SLP.Now the honourable court will watch this movie (Kerala stories) regarding the challenge to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certification, the Court said it would be listed after summer vacations as the Court would first have to see the movie for that” said Ali
“The challenge to the final judgment of the Madras High Court challenging the CBFC certification we will list after vacations. We will have to see the film for that. We will do that,” the bench said.
Qurban Ali said that our demand for a disclaimer was also accepted by the honourable court.
During the hearing, the bench also questioned the claim made by the film that 32,000 women from Kerala have been deceitfully converted into Islam. Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the film producer, agreed to clarify in the disclaimer that “there is no authentic data available to back up the suggestion that the figure of conversions is 32000 or any other established figure”. He said that the disclaimer will be added by 5 PM on 5 PM on May 20. The disclaimer will clarify that the film represents a fictionalised version of subject matter.
Bench questions 32,000 figure At this juncture, CJI Chandrachud asked Salve about the 32,000 figure and said it is a “distorted figure”. “Mr Salve, said that it will be clarified in the film disclaimer that there is no authentic figure available.
Further, CJI Chandrachud told senior advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the producer of the movie, that there needs to be proper disclaimer in the film.
“The disclaimer should say that there is no authentic data to back up the suggestion that the figure of conversions is 32000 or any other established figure,” Salve said, as reported by Live Law.
To this, the CJI responded, “Disclaimer should say that it’s fictionalised.”
