The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the ban imposed by Wet Bengal government on the controversial film ‘The Kerala Story’, saying law cannot be used to put premium on public intolerance.
“Law can't be used to put premium on public intolerance, otherwise all films will find themselves in this spot,” observed a bench comprising CJI DY Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha, and Justice JB Pardiwala.
The top court also recorded the statement made on behalf of Tamil Nadu that the state had not imposed a direct or indirect ban of the movie. It also directed the government to provide security to theatres and to moviegoers.
A batch of petitions were filed in the apex court seeking a stay on the movie’s release and objecting to the certification given by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). An appeal filed by journalist Qurban Ali, mentioned by senior advocate Kapil Sibal, said that the movie amounted to hate speech as it claimed that nearly 32,000 girls from Kerala were lured to join ISIS by their Muslim friends.
The bench headed by CJI today questioned the producer of the film over the claim that 32,000 women from Kerala have been deceitfully converted to Islam and recruited to ISIS.
Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the film producer, agreed to clarify in a disclaimer that "there is no authentic data available to back 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.
SC said it will hear the next batch of pleas challenging grant of CBFC certification to 'The Kerala Story' in the second week of July.
