High Court orders special screening of upcoming film on Batla house encounter

The plea was filed by Ariz Khan— one of the accused in the 2008 shoot out—and Shahzad Ahmad — convicted of the murder of a police officer during the encounter.

The Delhi High Court on Friday ordered a special screening of an upcoming film based on the Batla House encounter in the capital after a plea was filed, seeking to withhold the release of the film. The plea was filed by Ariz Khan— one of the accused in the 2008 shoot out—and Shahzad Ahmad — convicted of the murder of a police officer during the encounter.

The plea alleged the filmmakers had “willfully and deliberately ignored the legal processes” and “tried to portray a definitive account of the alleged incidents” which might affect their trials. (Photo: Pradeep Gaur/ Mint)

The plea alleged the filmmakers had “willfully and deliberately ignored the legal processes” and “tried to portray a definitive account of the alleged incidents” which might affect their trials.

Justice Vibhu Bakhru directed that the producers of the film to organise a screening of the movie, in collaboration with Sunil Kukreja, Registrar (Information Technology), in the high court premises on Monday following which the matter would be heard on August 8.

On September 19, 2008, two suspected terrorists were killed in an encounter between alleged Indian Mujahideen terrorists and the Delhi Police in the Batla House neighbourhood in Jamia Nagar. Three other suspects were arrested from the area, and numerous others were taken into custody from other locations in India. A Delhi Police inspector Mohan Chand Sharma was also killed in the encounter.

The petitioner’s counsel on Friday contended that the poster and the promotional videos of the movie claimed that the sequence of events in the movie was inspired by true events creating the impression that the film depicts the true account of the events that transpired on September 19, 2008.

“Moreover, the promotional materials also reveal and return a definitive finding that the encounter in fact was genuine which is an issue still pending adjudication,” the plea read.

The petition claimed that the promotional materials of the movie also show a link between the encounter and the Delhi serial bomb blasts- in which Khan and Ahmad are both accused. It said the trial in the serial bomb blasts that occurred on September 13, 2008, was underway at the Patiala House court and will have a “grave prejudicial effect on that trial as well.”