The Kerala Story: Supreme Court rejects fresh plea seeking stay on release of film
The Supreme Court on Thursday rejected another petition, which sought stay on release of the controversial movie “The Kerala Story”.
The matter was mentioned by Senior Advocate Huzefa Ahmadi before Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
Ahmadi apprised the Apex Court that the High Court of Kerala today refused to constitute a Bench to hear the matter, despite the Supreme Court yesterday allowing the petitioners to seek an urgent hearing on the petition before the movie hit the theatres on May 5.
He said a letter was sent to Justice S.V. Bhatti, Acting Chief Justice of the Kerala High Court, who in turn said that a Bench has been constituted. However, the Registry later informed the petitioners that the Bench will not hold its sitting today. Ahmadi added that the Kerala High Court was on summer vacation.
The CJI, however, refused to entertain the request and asked the petitioner to move the High Court again. He noted that the High Court has already passed a detailed order on May 2 to decline interim stay of the movie, in view of the certification granted by the Central Board of Film Certification.
The CJI observed that the Bench had applied its mind. Telling the petitioners to look at the matter from the perspective of the film producer, the CJI told the petitioner to think of the actors and producer, who have all put in their labour. He further told the petitioner that they must exercise caution while seeking stay on films. The CJI further said that let the market decide whether the movie was not up to the mark.
Justice Pardiwala sided with the CJI and told the petitioner to again appear before the High Court Bench at 10:15 am on Friday and try to convince the Bench.
The CJI said that a ‘contrived’ urgency has been created as the petitioner did not avail the proper remedy at the right time.
He further pointed out that the petitioner had initially sought to challenge the certificate in an interlocutory application (IA) in a pending hate speech case, which was turned down by another Bench.
Agreeing that moving the IA was a mistake, the Senior Counsel apologised for the same and requested the Bench to at least have a hearing before the release of the movie.
However, the CJI asked the petitioner to work out the remedies before the High Court.