Supreme Court Stays West Bengal's Ban On 'The Kerala Story' Movie; Producer Says No Authentic Data For Claims Of 32,000 Conversions

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the ban imposed by the State of West Bengal on the screening of the controversial film 'The Kerala Story'. The Court also recorded the statement made by Additional Advocate General Amit Anand Tiwari on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu that there is no direct or indirect ban of the movie in the State. The Court further directed the State of Tamil Nadu to provide security to theatres & movie goers in the state.The bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala posted the matters for further hearing in July 2023. The cases include the petition filed by the film maker against the West Bengal ban and the alleged shadow ban in Tamil Nadu and also petitions filed by others challenging the Kerala High Court's refusal to stay the screening of the film. The bench will also take a call on whether they should watch the film to ascertain if it is offensive.In the interim order, the bench observed that the decision of the West Bengal Government prima facie suffers from overbreadth.During the hearing, the bench also questioned the claim made by the film that 32,000 women from Kerala have been deceitfully converted into Islam and recruited to ISIS. Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the film producer, agreed to clarify in the disclaimer that "there is no authentic data available to back up the suggestion that the figure of conversions is 32000 or any other established figure". He said that the disclaimer will be added by 5 PM on May 20. The disclaimer will clarify that the film represents a fictionalised version of subject matter.Arguments of producerSenior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the film producer Sunshine Productions, referred to the State of West Bengal's affidavit, which stated that shadow surveillance by the state police in theatres revealed that people, after watching the film, were making communal statements against Muslims and that the film was disrupting communal harmony. Salve said that the State's decision was based on certain reports of intelligence officers who watched the movie."They pick up 12-13 people, who say that the movie is terrible and will cause riots", Salve said. He also read out an annexure to the State affidavit which indicated that there are chances of clashes between extremists who support and oppose the movie. Salve further said that the West Bengal affidavit mentioned an incident of violence in Maharashtra, allegedly sparked by an Instagram post about the movie. But Maharashtra has not banned the movie, the senior counsel higlighted.He also cited the Supreme Court judgments relating to "Aarakshan" and other films, which hold that the State cannot sit in appeal over the certification granted by the Central Board of Film Certification and stop the movie exhibition by citing law and order problems. As regards Tamil Nadu, Salve said that there is a "defacto ban". He refuted the Tamil Nadu Government's claim that the multiplexes withdrew the film due to poor audience reception. For that, Salve showed documents regarding the theatre collections from Tamil Nadu during the first two days, which evidence that the film was running in packed halls. "I want a direction that adequate security is given by the State and that there is no informal messaging by the State the film should not be screened", he said."Today I have a valid censor certificate. Two Courts(Kerala and Madras HCs) have declined interim order against it", Salve said.He also cited the judgment authored by Justice Chandrachud in Indibly Creative in which the West Bengal Government was directed to pay a compensation of Rs 20 lakhs to a film producer whose film was unofficially banned. He further referred to Justice Chandrachud's judgment delivered as a Bombay High Court judgment in F.A. Picture International v. Central Board of Film Certification which directed the certification of a movie on Gujarat riots."A controversial topic can be only depicted in a controversial manner..You can't just say that this is hurting the sentiments of the community..you cannot only have liberal thoughts..exaggeration, whether in written work, painting or anything, is entirely a part of creativity....art has to be provocative", Salve advanced.The film has a disclaimer stating that it is inspired by true events as narrated by video testimonials of real victims and families and cinematic liberties have been taken to fictionalise and dramatize the events."There was a disclaimer which said the claim of 32,000 women being converted, that teaser was taken away. The movie does not give the figure of 32,000", Salve said. This submission was opposed by Senior Advocate Gopal Sankaranarayanan(for West Bengal Police), who asserted that the movie does make such a claim.Arguments of West BengalSenior Advocate Dr.Abhishek Manu Singhvi, appearing for West Bengal Government, told the bench that the decision was taken to preserve public peace."You're saying that ban of the film is on ...

Supreme Court Stays West Bengal's Ban On 'The Kerala Story' Movie; Producer Says No Authentic Data For Claims Of 32,000 Conversions

Padmakshi Sharma

Tags