Day ahead of 'Udaipur Files' release, HC stays it, asks Centre to take call
NEW DELHI:
Delhi high court
stayed Thursday the release of 'Udaipur Files' in a rare instance of judicial intervention to pause a movie on the eve of its pan-India opening, reports Abhinav Garg. The film is purportedly based on tailor Kanhaiya Lal's 2022 murder in Udaipur.
The court directed Islamic cleric body Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind and other petitioners, which have objected to the movie, to seek a review of its censor certificate. The division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal directed the petitioners to approach the Centre within two days with their grievance. Until the Centre takes a call on their revision plea, the film will not be released, the bench said.
Kanhaiya Lal was murdered in June 2022 for allegedly sharing a social media post in support of former BJP functionary Nupur Sharma after her controversial comments on Prophet Mohammed.
NIA arrested alleged assassins Mohammad Riyaz and Mohammad Ghous. Their trial is pending. The judges pointed 'that it is not impermissible for this court to exercise extraordinary jurisdiction even in a case where a petitioner has not exhausted its alternative statutory remedies'.
'But having regard to the facts and circumstances of the case… especially the processes to be gone into at the time of grant of certification, we are of the opinion that the petitioner ought to approach the central govt by invoking Section 6 of the (Cinematograph) Act (which deals with revisional powers vested with the central govt),' the high court said.
During the hearing, petitioners' senior counsel
Kapil Sibal
described the film as 'the worst form of hate speech' against a community and an 'imminent threat to public order and harmony'.
He told the bench he had watched the film in a private screening, as directed by the court. He cited some instances and dialogues to argue the movie was 'not art but cinematic vandalism' to vilify a community. Among the scenes Sibal highlighted was one showing arrests of Muslim students.
In contrast, additional solicitor general Chetan Sharma, representing the Centre, justified the censor board's nod and contended that it was a movie based on a crime, not any community. 'The film cautions people. It is a crime-specific film. We should all live together — that's the theme,' Chetan Sharma argued.
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