A single-judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru, while hearing the petition filed by Ariz Khan and Shehzad Ahmad, both accused in the Batla House encounter case, adjourned the matter till 13th August and directed the  Petitioners to amend the petition showing the correlation between the characters shown in the movie and the two accused. Earlier this week a special screening of the Film Batla House has taken place.

The Petitioners had moved to the HC seeking a stay on the release of the film based on the incident in Delhi in 2008. Earlier this week a special screening of the Film Batla House has taken place.

Advocate Nitya Ramakrishnan, representing the petitioner termed the film as “islamophobic” and contended that the film would adversely affect the pending litigation as it would distort the image of the two.

“ The film projects Ariz Khan and Shezad Ahman as Criminals. No amount of disclaimer would be justified in this case. Earlier petitions filed against a screening of a movie like Padma vat cannot be correlated with this as none of them had person projected in the film undergoing a trial and that too for Capital Punishment. The film clearly shows the person planting bomb and admitting to be a member of the Indian Mujahedeen. Thus, there is no doubt that the Film would affect a fair trial” Nitya argued

Directed by Nikkhil Advani, Batla House is inspired by the alleged police operation of 2008 that took place in a building of that name in south Delhi in the wake of the serial blasts in the national capital. John Abraham essays Deputy Commissioner of Police Sanjeev Kumar Yadav, who spearheaded the police operation which left a policeman dead. Batla House, which also features actors Mrunal Thakur and Ravi Kishan, is scheduled to release on August 15.

-India Legal Bureau