Dulquer Salman starrer 'Kurup' violates right to privacy of proclaimed offender: PIL in Kerala High Court

A public interest litigation (PIL) petition has been filed before the Kerala High Court against Dulquer Salman starrer "Kurup", which is said to be based on the life of a proclaimed offender, and "India's longest wanted fugitive", Sukumara Kurup [Sebin Thomas v Union of India & Ors.]..The plea by Sebin Thomas, a lawyer practicing before the High Court, sought protection of the privacy of Sukumara Kurup and prayed for a stay on release of movie and to remove the movie from theatres if already released..A Division Bench of Chief Justice S Manikumar and Justice Shaji P Chaly admitted the plea this week and issued notice to the respondents and will be hearing the matter after 10 days. Kurup is a Malayalam-language biographical crime thriller film written by KS Aravind, Jithin K Jose and Daniell Sayooj Nair and directed by Srinath Rajendran.It stars Dulquer Salmaan in the title role along with Indrajith Sukumaran, Sobhita Dhulipala, Sunny Wayne, Bharath Srinivasan, Shine Tom Chacko, Surabhi Lakshmi, and Vijayaraghavan in supporting roles.The movie was initially slated to release in May 2021 but was released today, November 12, across 1500+ screens worldwide in multiple languages such as Malayalam, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Hindi..Sukumara Kurup has been registered as a proclaimed offender since 1989 and the movie Kurup is said to revolve around his notorious criminal activities and his escape from the law , which has become somewhat of a pop culture phenomenon, especially in Kerala from where he hails. He is alleged to be a conman who murdered a man named Chacko in 1984, and used the corpse to subsequently fake his own death to claim insurance money.He is one the State's most wanted criminals and has been absconding since 1989 and it is claimed that his property is now attached and under the control of the State.Section 82 of the Criminal Procedure Code incorporates the concept of ‘proclaimed offender’. Through a proclaimed offender proceeding, the court announces the individual as a wrongdoer and guides the concerned police authorities to capture the individual named in the procedure under the watchful eye of the court..The petitioner submitted that since Sukumara Kurup is a proclaimed offender and not a convict, the rights under Article 20 of the Constitution must be afforded to him i.e, the rights of an accused person until convicted in accordance with law. Moreover, proclaimed offenders can be considered an under privileged section of society, the plea claimed. The inaction of the State in protecting the rights of such offenders, as perceived by the petitioner, prompted him to approach the Court..The petitioner contended that the movie Kurup is an exploitation of the right to privacy of Sukumara Kurup, more so because he has not consented to the publication of details of his life through the movie and because he is not able to approach the Court to safeguard the same right.The petitioner relied on the judgement in Phoolan Devi v Shekhar Kapoor in which it was stated that books, interviews and third party information are not considered to be public records.Hence, the release of this movie will infringe Kurup's right to privacy, it was contended.Moreover, as per the judgement of the Supreme Court in the landmark case of KS Puttaswamy v Union of India, the right to privacy has indubitably been protected as an intrinsic part of the right to life and personal liberty under Article 21..Pertinently, it was submitted that once a person is declared a proclaimed offender, his right to life and liberty are affected and the State becomes duty bound to safeguard said rights. Therefore, the production of the movie, without prior sanction of the court by the Union and the State is highly arbitrary, illegal and liable to be interfered with, the plea said. .Apart from seeking to stop the release and publication of the movie, the petitioner also sought for directions to the Central and State governments to protect the right to privacy of all proclaimed offenders.