This Wednesday, the Supreme Court ruled that the national anthem, accompanied by a visual of the national flag on screen, must be played before every film screening in movie halls in the country. The apex court added that everyone present in the hall must rise in respect of the national anthem.
The order will be circulated to chief secretaries of all states, and will be published on electronic and print media.
The Supreme Court has also said that the anthem should not be “dramatised” or exploited commercially. An abridged version of the national anthem cannot be played in any form for any purpose, especially in commercial ads.
Playing the national anthem in movie halls has been a controversial issue for years in many Indian states. In October this year, Salil Chaturvedi, an award-winning writer and disability campaigner was assaulted by a couple in a cinema hall in Goa for not standing up for the national anthem. Chaturvedi, the son of a retired Air Force officer, uses a wheelchair because of a spinal injury. Chaturvedi has represented India in wheelchair tennis.
In December 2015, a Muslim family was abused by a group of people for not standing up for the anthem. In January, two women were booked for refusing to stand up for the anthem at a theatre in Mumbai. In 2015, Salman Mohammed, a 25-year-old man from Thiruvananthapuram was arrested under charges of sedition and the IT Act for refusing to stand up for national anthem in a movie theatre.
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In 2011, a notice was issued to two multiplexes in Panipat for playing the national anthem in violation of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. According to the Act, the national anthem cannot be played in closed spaces or beneath ceilings, and must be sung only under open skies. However, the new order from the Supreme Court has made it mandatory to play the anthem in all theatres before a movie screening.