A bunch of petitions had sought a stay on the movie's release and even objected to the certification given by the CBFC.
The Kerala Story Supreme Court
The Supreme Court said on Monday, 15 May, that it would hear on Tuesday a plea challenging the Kerala High Court order refusing to stay the release of the movie The Kerala Story, which hit theatres on 5 May.
The appeal filed by journalist Qurban Ali was mentioned by senior advocate Kapil Sibal on Monday
A bench, comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justices PS Narasimha and JB Pardiwala, agreed to list it for hearing on Monday.
However, it later said the plea would be taken up on 16 May due to the scheduled hearing of certain matters before a special bench at 3 pm on Monday.
The senior lawyer said the plea needed an urgent hearing as the high court had refused to grant an interim stay on the movie’s release on 5 May.
The high court order was passed after the judges watched the teaser of the movie.
A bunch of petitions had sought a stay on the movie’s release and even objected to the certification given by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC).
Ali, in his plea, said that the movie amounted to hate speech as it claimed that nearly 32,000 girls from Kerala were lured to join the IS group by their Muslim friends.
This tends to create enmity and hatred among different groups, Ali had argued in the high court seeking a stay on the movie’s release.
The Supreme Court had on 3 May refused to entertain pleas related to the movie and had asked the petitioners to approach the jurisdictional high court.
The pleas, including the one which sought that a disclaimer should be added to the title of the film that it was a work of fiction, had been mentioned for urgent listing before a bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha.
On Friday, the top court sought replies from the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments on a separate plea of the producers of The Kerala Story that the movie is not being shown in theatres in these two states.
While West Bengal has banned the movie after three days of its screening in theatres, Tamil Nadu has not banned the film but the exhibitors have withdrawn from cinema halls owing to security concerns.
“We find that trailers (of the movie) do not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole,” the high court had said in its order, adding that the CBFC had examined the movie and found it suitable for public exhibition.
The high court noted the producers’ submission that they do not intend to retain an “offending teaser” which contained a statement that “32,000 women” from Kerala were converted and joined the IS group.
The filmmakers changed the teaser from “32,000 women” who were converted and recruited by the IS group, to “three women”.
Meanwhile, The Kerala Story was made tax-free in Uttar Pradesh.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced it on 9 May, prompting the Opposition Samajwadi Party to say the state government should not use cinema and literature to impose a “poisonous agenda on the nation”.
The announcement comes days after the Madhya Pradesh government said it would give tax-free status to the film, while West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an immediate ban on its screening.
In Tamil Nadu, multiplexes cancelled screenings of the controversial film on 7 May.
UP BJP secretary Abhijat Mishra, on 6 May, organised the screening of the controversial film for about 100 college girls.
The BJP leader booked a theatre and said the movie should be shown to young women to prevent them from falling prey to the so-called “love jihad”, a discredited idea.
“Love jihad” is a term often used by right-wing activists to allege a ploy by Muslim men to lure Hindu women into religious conversion through marriage.
Mishra said the movie is based on true events and shows how gullible girls are manipulated and then converted.
In Karnataka, where Prime Minister Modi endorsed the movie saying that it speaks about the reality in Kerala, BJP president JP Nadda attended a special screening organised in Bengaluru on 7 May.
On the day of its release, at Thiruvananthapuram’s Aries Plus, two shows were held with the “houseful” board hanging on its gate. The board went missing after the two shows.
Theatre staff later explained that the two shows were organised by Thapasya, the cultural wing of BJP in Kerala, for its members and some of the fellow travellers of the Sangh Parivar.
RSS pracharak S Sethumadhavan, BJP state secretary P Sudheer and noted film producer G Suresh Kumar were among those who viewed the film. The screening was free. Thapasya met the expenses.
(With PTI inputs)
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