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    1. The Supreme Court of India heard petitions challenging the certification granted to the film "The Kerala Story" by the Central Board of Film Certification. 2. The Court deferred hearing the petitions to July 2023, after the summer recess, and directed parties to complete pleadings and submit written submissions by July 2. 3. The Court stayed an order by the Government of West Bengal prohibiting exhibition of the film, finding the prohibition to be overbroad.

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    Kerala Files

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    28 views6 pages
    1. The Supreme Court of India heard petitions challenging the certification granted to the film "The Kerala Story" by the Central Board of Film Certification. 2. The Court deferred hearing the petitions to July 2023, after the summer recess, and directed parties to complete pleadings and submit written submissions by July 2. 3. The Court stayed an order by the Government of West Bengal prohibiting exhibition of the film, finding the prohibition to be overbroad.

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    1. The Supreme Court of India heard petitions challenging the certification granted to the film "The Kerala Story" by the Central Board of Film Certification. 2. The Court deferred hearing the petitions to July 2023, after the summer recess, and directed parties to complete pleadings and submit written submissions by July 2. 3. The Court stayed an order by the Government of West Bengal prohibiting exhibition of the film, finding the prohibition to be overbroad.

    Copyright:

    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as pdf or txt
    28 views6 pages

    Kerala Files

    Uploaded by

    Pat
    1. The Supreme Court of India heard petitions challenging the certification granted to the film "The Kerala Story" by the Central Board of Film Certification. 2. The Court deferred hearing the petitions to July 2023, after the summer recess, and directed parties to complete pleadings and submit written submissions by July 2. 3. The Court stayed an order by the Government of West Bengal prohibiting exhibition of the film, finding the prohibition to be overbroad.

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    1

    ITEM NO.22 COURT NO.1 SECTION X

    S U P R E M E C O U R T O F I N D I A
    RECORD OF PROCEEDINGS

    Writ Petition(s)(Civil) No(s).552/2023

    SUNSHINE PICTURES PVT. LTD. & ANR. Petitioner(s)

    VERSUS

    UNION OF INDIA & ORS. Respondent(s)

    (WITH IA No. 99958/2023 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION, IA No.


    99708/2023 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL
    DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES, IA No. 99449/2023 - STAY APPLICATION)

    WITH
    SLP(C) No. 10166/2023 (XI-A)

    (WITH IA No. 100891/2023 - EXEMPTION FROM FILING C/C OF THE


    IMPUGNED JUDGMENT, IA No. 102247/2023 - INTERVENTION APPLICATION,
    IA No. 100894/2023 - PERMISSION TO FILE ADDITIONAL
    DOCUMENTS/FACTS/ANNEXURES)

    SLP(C) No. 10391/2023 (XII)


    (FOR ADMISSION and I.R. and IA No.101746/2023-EXEMPTION FROM FILING
    C/C OF THE IMPUGNED JUDGMENT)

    Date : 18-05-2023 These petitions were called on for hearing today.

    CORAM :
    HON'BLE THE CHIEF JUSTICE
    HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE PAMIDIGHANTAM SRI NARASIMHA
    HON'BLE MR. JUSTICE J.B. PARDIWALA

    For Petitioner(s) Mr. Harish N Salve, Sr. Adv.


    Mr. ANS Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
    Mr. Ameet Naik, Adv.
    Mr. Mahesh Aggarwal, Adv.
    Mr. Raghav Shankar, Adv.
    Ms. Madhu Gadodia, Adv.
    Mr. Harshvardhan Jha, Adv.
    Mrs. Yugandhara Pawar Jha, AOR
    Signature Not Verified
    Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv.
    Mr. Sujoy Mukherjee, Adv.
    Digitally signed by
    NEETA SAPRA
    Date: 2023.05.18
    18:19:57 IST
    Reason: Ms. Tarini Kulkarni, Adv.
    Mr. Aman Pathak, Adv.
    Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv.
    2

    Mr. Chirag Nayak, Adv.


    Ms. Drishti Rajain, Adv.
    Ms. Pallavi Mishra, Adv.
    Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, Adv.
    Ms. Arzu Paul, Adv.
    Ms. Deepti Arya, Adv.

    Mr. Huzefa A Ahmadi, Sr. Adv.


    Ms. Rashmi Singh, Adv.
    Ms. Sumita Hazarika, AOR

    Mr. Kapil Sibal, Sr. Adv.


    Mr. P. Soma Sundaram, AOR
    Mr. S. Prabhu Ramasubramanian, Adv.
    Mr. Nizam Pasha, Adv.
    Mr. Bharathimohan M, Adv.
    Ms. Priya R, Adv.
    Ms. Subasri Jaganathan, Adv.
    Mr. Avinash Kumar, Adv.

    For Respondent(s) Dr. Abhishek Manu Singhvi, Sr. Adv.


    Mr. Gopal Sankaranarayanan, Sr. Adv.
    Mr. Sanjay Basu, Adv.
    Mr. Nipun Saxena, Adv.
    Mr. Srisatya Mohanty, Adv.
    Mr. Amit Bhandari, Adv.
    Mr. Sanjeev Kaushik, Adv.
    Ms. Anju Thomas, Adv.
    Mr. Himanshu Chakravarty, Adv.
    Ms. Mantika Haryani, Adv.
    Mr. Shreyas Awasthi, Adv.
    Ms. Ripul Swati Kumari, Adv.
    Mr. Bhanu Mishra, Adv.
    Ms. Trisha Chandran, Adv.
    Ms. Muskan Surana, Adv.
    Mr. Devvrat Singh, Adv.
    Ms. Astha Sharma, AOR

    Mr. Harish N Salve, Sr. Adv.


    Mr. ANS Nadkarni, Sr. Adv.
    Mr. Ameet Naik, Adv.
    Mr. Mahesh Aggarwal, Adv.
    Mr. Raghav Shankar, Adv.
    Ms. Madhu Gadodia, Adv.
    Mr. Harshvardhan Jha, Adv.
    Mrs. Yugandhara Pawar Jha, AOR
    Mr. Ankur Saigal, Adv.
    Mr. Sujoy Mukherjee, Adv.
    Ms. Tarini Kulkarni, Adv.
    3

    Mr. Aman Pathak, Adv.


    Ms. S. Lakshmi Iyer, Adv.
    Mr. Chirag Nayak, Adv.
    Ms. Drishti Rajain, Adv.
    Ms. Pallavi Mishra, Adv.
    Mr. Salvador Santosh Rebello, Adv.
    Mr. Arzu Paul, Adv.
    Ms. Arzu Paul, Adv.
    Ms. Deepti Arya, Adv.
    Ms. Manisha Gupta, Adv.

    Mr. Amit Anand Tiwari, AAG


    Mr. Sabarish Subramanian, AOR

    Intervenors

    Mr. V.K. Biju, AOR


    Mrs. Ria Sachthey, Adv.
    Mr. Abhay Pratap Singh, Adv.
    Mr. Chetanya Singh, Adv.
    Ms. Vijay Lakshmi, Adv.
    Mrs. Deepa Joseph, Adv.
    Mr. Vasudev Mansha Ramani, Adv.
    Mrs. Rubina Jawed, Adv.

    Mr. Varinder Kumar Sharma, AOR


    Mrs. Deeksha Gaur, Adv.
    Mr. Shantanu Sharma, Adv.
    Mrs. Parul Sharma, Adv.
    Mr. Yugal Kishore Prasad, Adv.

    Mr. Kaleeswaram Raj, Adv.


    Mrs. Tulsi K Raj, Adv.
    Mr. Mohammed Sadique T.A., AOR

    UPON hearing the counsel the Court made the following


    O R D E R

    1 A Division Bench of the Madras High Court rejected the Writ Petition under

    Article 226 of the Constitution seeking to challenge the certification which was

    granted by the Central Board of Film Certification for the film “The Kerala Story”.

    2 A Division Bench of the Kerala High Court, while admitting a similar petition,
    4

    declined to grant interim relief.

    3 The hearing of the petitions arising from the judgments of the Madras High Court

    and the Kerala High Court is deferred to the second week of July 2023, after the

    summer recess. Pleadings be completed in the meantime. Written submissions

    shall be filed by 2 July 2023.

    4 The State of West Bengal has, by an order dated 8 May 2023, issued under

    Section 6(1) read with the proviso to Section 4 of the West Bengal Cinemas

    (Regulation) Act 1954 prohibited the exhibition of the film in the entire State of

    West Bengal.

    5 Prima facie, the prohibition which has been imposed by the State of West Bengal

    suffers from over breadth and the statutory requirements for the imposition of

    such a prohibition have not been fulfilled on the basis of the material which has

    been disclosed in the counter affidavit.

    6 Hence, the order of the Additional Secretary to the Government of West Bengal

    in the Department of Information and Cultural Affairs dated 8 May 2023

    (Annexure P-9) is stayed.

    7 In the counter affidavit which has been filed by the State of Tamil Nadu, it has

    been stated that :

    “7. Furthermore, on 05.05.2023, the Director General of


    Police / Head of the Police Force. Tamil Nadu issued
    instructions to all the Commissioners of Police and
    District Superintendents of Police in the State to
    provide adequate security and protection to every
    cinema hall that had screened the Film. The State has
    made adequate arrangements for security to facilitate
    the screening of the Film, and to ensure that the
    5

    theatre owners, viewers and the audience are not


    endangered. Over 965 Police Personnel, including 25
    DSPs, were posted for the protection of the 21 movie
    theatres which had screened the Film. (Annexure-II)

    8. It is further submitted that, on 05.05.2023,


    demonstrations, agitations and picketing were staged
    in 19 places by various Muslim organizations. On
    06.05.2023, demonstrations were held at 7 places in
    Chennai and Coimbatore. A total of nine cases, five in
    Chennai and four cases in Coimbatore were registered
    against the protesters. (Annexure-III)”

    8 During the course of the hearing, it has been stated on behalf of the State of

    Tamil Nadu that the screening of the film has not been directly or indirectly

    prohibited within the State. While recording the contents of the counter affidavit

    and the submissions on behalf of the State of Tamil Nadu, we direct that :

    (i) Adequate security shall be provided to every cinema hall displaying the

    film and requisite arrangements shall be made to ensure the safety of

    movie goers who wish to see the film in any theatre where the movie is

    displayed; and

    (ii) No steps whatsoever, whether tacit or express, formal or informal, shall

    be taken by the State of Tamil Nadu or by any of its officers or

    instrumentalities including the police to prevent the screening of the film.

    9 Mr Harish Salve, senior counsel appearing on behalf of the film producer submits

    that in order to set the controversy pertaining to the film at rest, the following

    disclaimer shall be added to the existing disclaimer which forms a part of the

    film no later than by 5.00 pm on 20 May 2023 :

    (i) There is no authentic data to back up the suggestion that the figure of

    conversion is 32,000 or any other established figure; and


    6

    (ii) The film represents a fictionalised account of events forming the subject

    matter of the film.

    10 The entire batch of petitions shall now be posted for final disposal on 18 July

    2023.

    (GULSHAN KUMAR ARORA) (SAROJ KUMARI GAUR)


    AR-CUM-PS ASSISTANT REGISTRAR

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