The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has ordered personal appearance of director of the movie ‘Adipurush’ Om Raut, producer Bhushan Kumar and dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir along with their personal affidavits explaining their bonafide conduct.
A division bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Shree Prakash Singh has also directed the Union information & broadcasting (I&B) ministry to set up a five-member committee of experts within a week of the court’s order to re-examine the movie to ascertain whether it’s story and depiction of Lord Rama, Devi Sita, Lord Hanuman and Ravan etc are in conformity with the Valmiki Ramayana or not.
The court heard the two PIL petitions seeking ban on the movie ‘Adipurush’ on June 28. The order was uploaded on high court’s portal on Friday. The committee must prepare its report within 15-days and the Union I&B ministry must submit it in the high court along with the personal affidavit of the secretary of the ministry by the next date of hearing July 27, said the court.
The court has clubbed two PILs seeking ban on the movie ‘Adipurush’. The first PIL has been filed by Kuldeep Tiwari who is represented by lawyers Ranjana Agnihotri and Sudha Sharma. Naveen Dhawan has filed the second PIL who has been represented by lawyer Prince Lenin.
{{/usCountry}}The court has clubbed two PILs seeking ban on the movie ‘Adipurush’. The first PIL has been filed by Kuldeep Tiwari who is represented by lawyers Ranjana Agnihotri and Sudha Sharma. Naveen Dhawan has filed the second PIL who has been represented by lawyer Prince Lenin.
{{/usCountry}}The high court also ordered that two members of the committee must be well versed with the Valmiki Ramayana, which is said to be a main source of this film and Tulsidas’s Ramcharitmanas besides other religious epics.
It directed the chairman, Central Board of Film Certification, to file his personal affidavit apprising whether guidelines for certification of films for public exhibition had been followed in letter and spirit while issuing the certificate to ‘Adipurush’.
“If the personal affidavits of the authorities, as directed above, are not filed by the next date of listing, any Class-I Officer not below the rank of Deputy Secretary, Ministry of Broadcasting, New Delhi, as well as any responsible officer of the Board of Film Certification shall appear in person along with the records,” the court said.
The movie hurts the emotions of people as religious icons/gods have been shown in it in a shameful and disgusting manner as if they were fictional persons or as if they were comic characters.
In the name of freedom of speech and expression, no one can be permitted to do anything which is against the decency or morality or against the public order. The film, prima-facie, does not qualify the test as prescribed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India.