NEW DELHI: Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind on Tuesday moved the Supreme Court seeking a ban on release of the film ‘The Kerala Story‘ on the ground that it made false claims about 32,000 women being converted to Islam through allurement and then sent to fight for terror organisation Islamic State along with a storyline that is sure to drive a wedge between Hindus and Muslims.
In the petition, Jamiat’s Mumbai-based 89-year-old legal cell secretary Gulzar Ahmed Azmi said the movie gave the message that apart from radical clerics who indoctrinated non-Muslims, seemingly friendly and educated Muslim youngsters were also secretly working to lure and convert non-Muslims at the behest of terrorist organisations.
Earlier in the day, while hearing a matter pertaining to hate speech, a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna had refused to entertain a similar plea and said the petitioners should move the appropriate forum. “It’s not like a person getting on the podium and starts giving uncontrolled speech. If you want to challenge the release of the movie, you should challenge the certification and through appropriate forum,” the bench said.
Meanwhile, a PIL was moved in the Kerala HC seeking a stay on the movie’s release. The HC listed the matter for hearing on May 5, the day the film is scheduled to be released.
The Jamiat petition claimed that the film demonised the Muslim youth. It pleaded for a complete ban on release of the movie in theatres and OTT platforms on May 5.
“Direct the Central Board of Film Certification to identify incendiary scenes and dialogues so that the same may be removed from ‘The Kerala Story’; and direct that the movie be released with a disclaimer that it is a work of fiction and the characters in the movie bear no resemblance to any person living or dead,” it said.
In the petition, Jamiat’s Mumbai-based 89-year-old legal cell secretary Gulzar Ahmed Azmi said the movie gave the message that apart from radical clerics who indoctrinated non-Muslims, seemingly friendly and educated Muslim youngsters were also secretly working to lure and convert non-Muslims at the behest of terrorist organisations.
Earlier in the day, while hearing a matter pertaining to hate speech, a bench of Justices K M Joseph and B V Nagarathna had refused to entertain a similar plea and said the petitioners should move the appropriate forum. “It’s not like a person getting on the podium and starts giving uncontrolled speech. If you want to challenge the release of the movie, you should challenge the certification and through appropriate forum,” the bench said.
Meanwhile, a PIL was moved in the Kerala HC seeking a stay on the movie’s release. The HC listed the matter for hearing on May 5, the day the film is scheduled to be released.
The Jamiat petition claimed that the film demonised the Muslim youth. It pleaded for a complete ban on release of the movie in theatres and OTT platforms on May 5.
“Direct the Central Board of Film Certification to identify incendiary scenes and dialogues so that the same may be removed from ‘The Kerala Story’; and direct that the movie be released with a disclaimer that it is a work of fiction and the characters in the movie bear no resemblance to any person living or dead,” it said.