The Supreme Court, on Monday, refused to entertain a plea requesting a stay on the release of Why I killed Gandhi. The short film was released on the streaming platform Limelight on Sunday, Mahatma Gandhi’s 74th death anniversary.
According to the report, the court refused to entertain the writ petition filed under Article 32, but granted liberty to the petitioner to move the High Court under Article 226 instead.
The bench consisting of Justices Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari said that a petition under Article 32 may only be filed when there is a question of violation of fundamental rights. “There is no fundamental right of the petitioner which appears to have been violated. Thus this plea cannot be entertained. However, it appears that the petitioner may have a serious cause of concern here. Petitioner is at liberty to approach the High Court under Article 226,” their order said.
The plea was filed by one Sikarndar Behl, who alleged that the release and exhibition of the movie would “irreparably tarnish the image” of Mahatma Gandhi and would cause “public unrest, hatred and disharmony.”
The plea further stated that the film’s trailer showed an attempt to blame Mahatma Gandhi for the Partition of India and the atrocities against Hindus in Pakistan, and charged the film’s makers with glorifying Gandhi’s assassin Nathuram Godse and attempting to justify Gandhi’s assassination.
Behl also alleged that Why I killed Gandhi was directly being premiered on OTT without being cleared by the CBFC.
During the hearing on Monday, advocate Anuj Bhandari, appearing for Behl, said, “The movie Why I Killed Gandhi was released yesterday. In the movie, Gandhi has been called ‘Napunsak‘. Jokes are being made on Gandhi and the entire courtroom has been shown laughing at Gandhi. Gandhi has been called as ‘Hara Hua Juwhari‘.”
Recommended
Although Justice Banerjee agreed that this was unfortunate, she questioned why the petitioner had approached the Supreme Court straight away. The bench then asked the counsel to approach the High Court under Article 226 instead.
Recently, the All India Cine Workers’ Association wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, demanding a ban on Why I killed Gandhi. In the letter, AICWA said the film “glorifies Nathuram Godse, the traitor, and killer of our father of nation, Mahatma Gandhi.” The film was also opposed by the Maharashtra wing of the Indian National Congress party.