The Supreme Court on Monday said it cannot pass an order at this stage on a plea seeking stay on the release of Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s biopic as the censor board is yet to certify the film.
The apex court said it will hear the matter on Tuesday and could possibly pass an order if the petitioner brings on record what the film depicts is “highly objectionable”.
“Any kind of order from the court will be possible if the petitioner states and pleads what the film is seeking to depict and his objections on this count,” said the order by a bench headed by Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi. The Bench also refused the plea of the petitioner, Congress activist Aman Panwar, that the copy of the film should be given to him.
“Why should we direct that individual be given a copy of the film,” said the Bench, also comprising Justices Deepak Gupta and Sanjiv Khanna.
“On behalf of the petitioner, a prayer has been made that directions should be issued for furnishing a copy of the film to enable the petitioner to act in terms of the order. We fail to see how such a direction can be issued by the court,” it said.
At the outset, the Chief Justice of India (CJI) said the film is not yet certified and referred to April 4 statement by Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) chairperson Prasoon Joshi given to PTI about it.
Joshi had told PTI that the film was undergoing due process of examination and certification. “Since there are a lot of queries around the certification of the film, (I) would like to give a clear picture: the film is going through the due process of examination and certification according to the requisite guidelines and is yet to be certified as the process is not complete at this point,” Joshi had said.
Senior advocate AM Singhvi, appearing for the Congress activist, said producer Sandip Singh had come out with a statement that the biopic would be released on April 11.