The Supreme Court on Monday declined to interfere in the release of movie Prime Minister Narendra Modi, claimed to be “blatant propaganda” dressed up as art in tormenting of the Moral Code of Conduct for the Lok Sabha polls of 2019.
A Bench led by CJI Ranjan Gogoi said that the Court will not step in unless it was sure about what the film was “seeking to depict” and what the petitioner, a Congress party activist, Aman Panwar, is alleging to about the movie.
“We have not seen the film. We do not know the script of the film. How can we order anything without being aware of what we are ordering about?” Chief Justice Gogoi told senior advocate A.M. Singhvi, who represents Mr. Panwar.
Mr. Singhvi informed that the film was not yet released and the only insight into its essence was the publicity and trailers shown so far. “There has been publicity havoc for the past 40 days. This is a direct attack on the Basic Structure of the Constitution which guarantees free and fair elections. So far nobody has seen the movie, but once it is released how can it be stopped? Just consider the possibilities,” Mr. Singhvi submitted.
The Bench further asked Mr. Panwar to file an application, if possible, by Monday after seeing the film. The application should highlight the parts found objectionable by him and why he found it tormenting to the Model Code of Conduct, it said.
To this, Mr. Singhvi told that the court should then order the filmmakers to provide Mr. Panwar with a copy of the movie. But the court refused.
“We fail to see how such an order can be passed by this court,” Chief Justice Gogoi responded.
The film will be released on April 11, the first phase of Lok Sabha elections. __khulasa
