NEW DELHI, Mar 28: The Delhi High Court Thursday declined to interfere with the release of the film ‘Ram Ki Janmabhoomi’, which is to hit theatres on Friday, saying it has “not found anything objectionable” in it.
Justice Vibhu Bakhru however directed the movie’s producer to hold private screening of the film for the petitioner, Prince Yakub Habeebuddin Tucy who claims to be a descendant of the last Mughal emperor Bahadur Shah Zafar.
The court directed the producer, Waseem Rizvi, to hold private screening in the national capital on Thursday evening for Tucy who has contended that the movie contains personal attacks against him and his family.
The petitioner had also contended that film was inflammatory and had the potential to promote communal disharmony.
However, the court did not agree with the contentions, saying “there was no material on record to support the allegations. This court has not found anything objectionable in it”.
The judge also said that Tucy’s objections against the movie’s title “were not persuasive enough” to interfere with release of the film.
The court told the film’s producer to hold a private screening of the film for the petitioner so that his apprehensions regarding the movie’s content can be addressed.
It also told the petitioner that the allegedly objectionable dialogues in the film’s trailers have been removed by the censor board and as the movie too would have undergone the same cuts, therefore, there was no cause for Tucy to be apprehensive about its release.
The high court, however, gave the petitioner liberty to approach it again if he found any objectionable dialogue or scene in the movie after the private screening.
With these directions the court disposed of the petition.
The film, directed by Sanoj Mishra, is scheduled to hit the screens across the country on March 29.
The high court, while hearing Tucy’s petition on Wednesday had said that people will have to be tolerant if freedom of speech and expression guaranteed under the Constitution has to survive.
“This court is of the view that whether right or not, people have to be tolerant if Article 19 (freedom of speech and expression) of the Constitution has to survive,” Justice Bakhru had said. (PTI)
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