The Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected a fresh demand by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to ban the release of Sanjay leela Bhansali’s Padmavaat, saying that people cannot be allowed to take to the streets and create law and order problem to “cripple” the movie.
Dealing with separate applications moved by Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh to ban the screening of the film, the Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud wished to know what “concrete” material was available with the States to make such pleas.
Additional Solicitor General (ASG) Tushar Mehta representing the States argued that the respective Governments are aware of their constitutional duty to maintain law and order. However, a situation may arise when public order and peace are breached in specific areas of the State. In such a case, the State must have the liberty to issue orders to ban screening of the film, he submitted.
The SC rebuffed the submission saying, “let us not come to such a state of affairs where the exhibition of a film of this nature where a certificate (from Censor Board) has been granted is crippled…People cannot be allowed to take to the streets and the States saying there is law and order problem.”
The States in their application referred to intelligence inputs about threats issued by certain groups if the movie is to be released. Besides the two States, the Akhil Bhartiya Kshatriya Mahasabha too approached the court with a request for ban, claiming that the history of their community had been distorted in the film. The SC pointed out the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had involved historians and academicians for scrutiny of the film and suggested appropriate cuts before granting it clearance. “People must understand that there is a statutory body, CBFC, and the Supreme Court, which has passed orders. Our order is required to be complied by one and all. If anybody is still aggrieved, they may decide not to watch the movie. But this cannot be a ground to modify our order,” the judges said.
The ASG said that the State cannot adopt an “ostrich like view” by refusing to act when violence is taking place in several parts in the two States in protest against the movie. The judges replied, “States should have the obligation to first implement the court order. You create trouble in the first place and then by virtue of it, approach the court for relief. You (States) cannot allow people to breach law and order and claim that the State cannot control them. How can we entertain such a ground by the StatesIJ”
The SC dismissed all three applications and maintained the spirit of its past decisions upholding the freedom of speech and expression of the movie producers Viacom 18 to exhibit the movie.