The Supreme Court on Tuesday refused to hear a plea contesting the release of the film “The Kerala Story”.
A bench comprised of Justices KM Joseph and BV Nagarathna observed that filing a petition to stop the release of a film is not a suitable remedy.
‘The Kerala Story’ film is directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amritlal Shah, has sparked controversy for claiming that approximately 32,000 Kerala women were deceitfully converted to Islam and forced to join ISIS.
Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, the state’s ruling CPI(M), and the opposition Congress have all spoken out against the film, claiming that it spreads false propaganda in order to incite communal hatred and portray Kerala in a negative light.
The petition was filed as part of a pending writ suit seeking action against hate speech crimes. When asked about the plea for urgent listing, Advocate Nizam Pasha stated that the film was “the worst instance of hate speech” and “audio-visual propaganda.”
The bench, however, questioned why the petitioner couldn’t go to the High Court and stated that every challenge cannot begin with the Supreme Court.
Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal later joined the proceedings. Suggesting that the bench read the trailer’s transcript, Sibal stated that the trailer has already had 16 million views and that the film will be released in various languages, including Hindi, Malayalam, Tamil, and Telugu.
However, in a plea, the bench expressed its difficulty in considering the challenge. According to Justice Joseph, once a film has been certified by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the courts cannot interfere unless the certification is challenged in a substantive petition.
“We challenged in the IA, but it must be done in a substantive petition. I understand that,” Sibal remarked, adding that the current recourse was chosen due to the short amount of time before the film’s release. He stated that he will file a substantive petition and seek an urgent listing before the Chief Justice of India tomorrow, but he pleaded the bench to consider the IA in the meantime.
“You can’t start everything at the Supreme Court,” Justice Nagarathna stated. Sibal responded that the Supreme Court intervened in the UPSC jihad show on Sudarshan TV.
Justice Joseph stated that he is aware of the film’s controversy because he witnessed a television discussion about it. “We got an idea because we saw it on TV. We also watch TV,” he added. However, he questioned the petitioner’s method once more.
“If you have to get relief in a case, I don’t think this is the forum…with the IA kind of thing,” Justice Joseph stated.
“Yes, but it’s too late now. It will be released on Friday. But we’ll do what we can,” Sibal responded.
