Allahabad HC slams ‘Adipurush’ makers, says tolerance of people should not be tested
Religious scriptures revered by people should not be touched, the Lucknow bench of the high court observed
The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court on Tuesday slammed the makers of the movie ‘Adipurush’ for portraying Lord Ram and Lord Hanuman in an objectionable manner while stating why tolerance level of a particular religion was being put to test.
A division bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Shree Prakash Singh orally observed during an open court hearing of the case: “The one who is gentle should be suppressed? Is it so? It is good that believers of this religion did not create any public order problem. We should be thankful.”
Tolerance of people should not be tested, said the court. The court also pointed out that the Central Board of Film Certification should have done something while issuing a certificate to the movie.
“If we close our eyes on this issue also because it is said that people of this religion are very tolerant, so will it be put to test?,” the court observed orally during hearing of the case.
The court gave 24 hours’ time to deputy solicitor general of India SB Pandey to seek complete instructions from the Centre, particularly from the ministry of information and broadcasting and Central Board of Film Certification, regarding their opinion on the movie ‘Adipurush’.
The court issued these directives when Pandey pointed out that the movie had a disclaimer that it was not based on the Ramayana. Reacting to it, the petitioner’s lawyer Ranjana Agnihotri pointed out to the court that the movie’s characters were based on Lord Ram, Goddess Sita, Lord Laxman, Lord Hanuman and Ravana, then how come it was not based on Ramayana.
On this, the court observed that people who put the disclaimer consider the countrymen and youth to be brainless. “You show Lord Ram, Lord Hanuman and then say it is not Ramayana,” the court said during hearing of the case.
The court also observed that religious scriptures, towards which people were sensitive, should not be touched. On this point, Pandey sought time from the court to seek instructions from the Centre.
The court gave 24 hours’ time to deputy solicitor general of India to seek complete instructions from the Centre and file reply. The court made these observations while hearing two public interest litigation petitions (PILs) against the movie ‘Adipurush’ and stressed that they were not propaganda petitions.
Deputy solicitor general of India SB Pandey, assisted by Ashwani Kumar Singh represented the Centre. Advocate Ranjana Agnihotri represented petition Kuldeep Tewari and additional advocate general Vinod Kumar Shahi represented the state government during hearing of the case.
The court also allowed impleadment application making the movie’s dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir party in the case.
A division bench of Chief Justice Rajesh Bindal and Justice Brij Raj Singh had issued a notice to the Censor Board on January 10 this year on the PIL filed by Kuldeep Tewari in which objections were raised on contents of the movie ‘Adipurush’.
The court had fixed February 21 as next date of hearing in the case. But the Censor Board did not file its reply and released the movie. The petitioner had impleaded the Centre, the state government, the Censor Board, director of the movie Om Raut, actors Prabhas , Saif Ali Khan, Kriti Sanon and others in the case. Hearing of the case will continue on Wednesday too.