Supreme Court junks petitions challenging The Kerala Story, but leaves legal questions about CBFC certification open
Here's the latest update from the Bollywood world:
The Supreme Court on Friday closed the proceedings on a batch of petitions relating to the controversial 2023 movie, The Kerala Story , while leaving open the question of law relating to challenges to certification of films by the Central Board of Movie Certification (CBFC).
Adding to this, The Kerala Story rolled out on May 5, 2023. SC disposes of petitions against The Kerala Story Chief Justice of India Surya Kant-led bench on Friday disposed of dozens of cases which were filed either during the COVID-19 period or became infructuous due to the passage of time.
Meanwhile, Dealing with two pleas seeking cancellation of CBFC certification of The Kerala Story, the bench, which also comprised Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, shared that the petitions have become infructuous.
Notably, The third plea filed by the movie's producers, Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd and Vipul Amritlal Shah, was withdrawn. The petition had challenged the then West Bengal government's decision to ban the movie.
As per the latest buzz, The top court, in May 2023, stayed the ban imposed by the state government. Advocate Nizam Pasha, appearing for petitioners Qurban Ali and B R Aravindakshan in the other two matters, submitted that the issues raised by his clients continued to survive despite the movie having already been rolled out.
In further updates, Pasha pointed out that the Kerala High Court had disposed of a writ petition concerning the movie after observing that the plea was not maintainable against the grant of a certificate to a movie by the CBFC.
On top of that, He shared that while the statutory remedy against CBFC certification was available to the producer, other persons aggrieved by the contents of a movie had no such statutory remedy and were, therefore, required to approach the court through a writ petition. The bench, however, noted that the movie had already been rolled out.
Justice Bagchi observed 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," Justice Bagchi shared.
Source: Hindustan Times