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The Supreme Court today disposed of 3 petitions pertaining to the movie 'The Kerala Story' which attracted widespread controversy in 2023.

A bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana heard the matter. While one of the petitions (by producer-Sunshine Pictures) was withdrawn, Advocate Nizam Pasha, for petitioners (Qurban Ali and BR Aravindakshan) in two other cases, stressed that despite the release of the movie, issues survive.

Pasha urged that the High Court had disposed of the petitioner's writ petition on similar issue, observing that a writ petition is not maintainable against the grant of certificate to a movie by CBFC. He said that while statutory remedy is available only to the producer, other persons aggrieved by a movie have to take recourse to a writ petition.

While Justice Mohana noted that the movie ended up being released, Justice Bagchi remarked that the question of law could be left open. "The litigation has to await another movie...another movie that is controversial, we will go into that question", J Bagchi said.

Pasha then highlighted that the petitioner had approached the Court seeking cancellation of the movie's certificate, and that the movie is still accessible on OTT platforms. He pressed for hearing of the matter by further pointing out that the petitioner had approached against an interim order of the High Court, but later the High Court disposed of the writ petition noting that the Supreme Court was seized of the issue. 

"Guidelines have to be laid down for films that promote hate speech", he urged. "Alright, file a comprehensive writ petition seeking general guidelines", replied CJI. The bench recorded in the order that the question of law would remain open and parties would have liberty to initiate appropriate proceedings.

One of the petitions, which the Court closed today, was filed by the producers Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd and Vipul Amritlal Shah challenging the West Bengal Government's ban on the film. In May 2023, the Supreme Court had stayed the West Bengal Government's ban. 

To recap, the movie 'Kerala Story', directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, attracted controversy for making claims that nearly 32,000 women from Kerala were converted through deceit into Islam and forced to join ISIS. The then Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the ruling party of the state CPI(M) and the opposition Congress came out against the movie, saying that it was peddling false propaganda to create communal hatred and to portray the state in a bad light.

Following the Supreme Court's refusal to interfere, the aggrieved parties approached the Kerala High Court. A Division Bench of the High Court however refused to stay exhibition of the movie, while recording the submission of the producer that the movie's teaser (which claimed that over 32000 women from Kerala were recruited by ISIS) would be removed from their social media accounts. 

A sequel of the movie by the name of 'The Kerala Story 2' was released this year in February. Initially, a single Bench of the High Court stayed its release noting that the CBFC failed to properly assess whether the film threatened communal disharmony. However later, in a special sitting, a Division Bench of the Court lifted the stay.

Case: QURBAN ALI v. CENTRAL BOARD OF FILM CERTIFICATION AND ANR., SLP(C) No. 10166/2023 (and connected cases)

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