Kerala Story SC declines plea seeking immediate hearing to stay release of 'The Kerala Story' film
New Delhi: Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to immediately hear a plea to stay the release of the controversial movie "The Kerala Story."
The plea sought an urgent hearing before the Supreme Court, citing that it promotes hate speech.
A two-judge bench of the Supreme Court, headed by Justice K M Joseph, asked the petitioners to, however, approach the appropriate forum since the movie has gone through a process of certification by the censor board.
The film, The Kerala Story, is slated to be released across theatres on May 5.
The Kerala Story (Hindi) directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah, follows the story of a group of women from Kerala who converted to Islam and joined the extremist Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS). The left government in Kerala and other opposition parties in India opposed the film which supposedly claims that thousands of women from Kerala are being converted and recruited into ISIS.
Advocate Nizam Pasha mentioned the matter before the Supreme Court bench headed by Justice K M Joseph, saying that this plea is related to the upcoming film “The Kerala Story” and sought an immediate hearing of it.
"It promotes hate speech. This is the worst instance of hate speech. This is audio-visual propaganda. Don't have time for any other remedy," Pasha told the Supreme Court.
Justice Joseph, however, refused to give an urgent hearing and asked the petitioner to approach the High Court first.
"Why don’t you move the High Court first?” the Top Court asked the petitioner and added that a board had certified it through a process.
The apex court asked petitioner Advocate Pasha to file a separate petition in the matter. It also added that the concerned High Court should have been moved first by the petitioner.
"We cannot tag it. Why don't you move the concerned High Court first? See a board has certified it through a process," Justice Joseph remarked.
The petitioner mentioned that the trailer of the film already has 16 million views. By tomorrow we will file a substantial petition.
"You cannot come directly here always," said Justice B V Nagarathna, the other judge in the Supreme Court bench said.
(With UNI inputs)
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