Supreme Court stays ban on release of Padmaavat

Agencies

New Delhi, 19 Jan 2018: The Supreme Court on Thursday passed an interim order allowing the makers of Padmaavat to release the film in the states where the governments had banned its release.

 

Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh governments had stated that they will not allow Padmaavat to be released as it will cause law and order issues. However, Harish Salve and Mahesh Agarwal, who represented Padmaavat makers at the Supreme Court argued that law and order is not a sufficient reason for a state to ban a film’s release, especially since the producers had made the changes in the film and the film’s title (it was earlier titled Padmavati) as suggested by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). The Supreme Court bench accepted the argument and allowed the movie to be released all over India.

 

 

While the SC order stays the ban placed by Rajasthan and Gujarat (the only two states that had officially banned Padmaavat), it also makes it impossible for other states to place any kind of ban on the film’s release.

 

Times Now reported that the Chief Justice of India stated while giving his ruling that while the freedom of expression enshrined in Article 19 of the Indian Constitution may not be absolute, it doesn’t mean the state government can ban a film outright. It also said that it is the responsibility of the state government to maintain law and order and the state government cannot abdicate that responsibility. 

 

Earlier on two occasions, the apex court had thwarted attempts to stall release of the film, saying it cannot pre-judge a movie before the authorised body CBFC takes a decision. The Censor Board finally issued the certificate on December 30.

 

Padmaavat is based on the saga of the historic battle of 13th century between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi, as narrated in the epic poem Padmaavat by Malik Muhammad Jayasi.

 

Padmaavat has seen its fair share of controversy as the fringe group Rajput Karni Sena mounted a national level opposition against the film, saying that it distorted facts. The group even offered a bounty on director Sanjay Leela Bhansali and lead actress Deepika Padukone for speaking up against them. The controversies and a lack of Censor Board certificate delayed the film’s release from its original date of December 1 to January 25.