The Bombay High Court had dismissed a PIL that sought a stay on the release of the movie ‘The Kashmir Files’. The PIL was filed by one Intezar Hussain Sayed alleging that the movie hurts religious feelings of the Muslim community and might inflame the Hindu community to trigger communal violence.
The movie is directed by Vivek Agnihotri. Famous actors including Anupam Kher and Mithun Chakraborty are starred in the movie. The plot of the movie is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits. The film was directed by National Film Award winner Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri and is based on the 1990 genocide of Kashmiri Hindus. The film was slated to release on March 11.
The PIL argued that the dialogues of the movie are racial and consist of religious remarks. The dialogues are, therefore, discriminatory, defamatory, and go against the constitutional principles. It was contended that the movie portrays a one-sided view of the unfortunate incident and thereby, hurts religious sentiments of the Muslim community and triggers communal violence by the Hindu community. The PIL challenged the release of the movie on the ground that the freedom of right to speech and expression is subject to reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) of the Constitution and therefore, the movie being a propaganda piece and not an artistic work can be subjected to such restrictions.
The Court dismissed the PIL on the ground that the petitioner failed to exhaust the alternative remedies available like challenging the censor certificate issued by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC). It was observed that the rule of exhaustion of alternative remedies applies to PILs as well and not to matters of private interest only.
HON’BLE MR JUSTICE DIPANKAR DATTA
Chief Justice Bombay High Court
HON’BLE MR JUSTICE M S KARNIK
Judge Bombay High Court
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