Jayeshbhai Jordar: Delhi High Court will not allow release until it sees sex determination scene in Ranveer Singh film

The Delhi High Court on Monday asked the producers of the upcoming Ranveer Singh starrer Jayeshbhai Jordaar to show it a scene in the movie depicting prenatal sex-determination. .A Division Bench of Acting Chief Justice Vipin Sanghi and Justice Jasmeet Singh said that it would examine the scene to see if a serious issue like female infanticide is trivialised in the movie. The judges said that they will not allow the release of the movie unless they see the relevant part themselves. "You take instructions. We will have to see or we will have to stay. You come back. Unless we see for ourselves, we will not permit this. We will take it up after lunch," Justice Sanghi said..A Public Interest Litigation (PIL) was in the High Court by an NGO named Youth Against Crime through Advocate Pawan Prakash Pathak, demanding that the scene which shows a clinic where sex-determination can be done should be removed from the movie. It argued that though the movie is based on the theme of female infanticide and aims to promote awareness about saving girl children, its promo and trailer advertises the use of ultrasound for sex-determination, which is prohibited under the Pre-Conception and Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. .The movie is set to be released on Friday, May 13. .After watching the trailer of the movie today, the judges said that there was nothing in the promo that showed that sex-determination is a crime under the law. "There is nothing to show that the lady is taken to the doctor clandestinely or that doctor saying that this is not legal or that parties are aware that it is in offence and that it is being done clandestinely. What is coming out is that any pregnant woman can be taken to the clinic and it can be done in routine...Suppose you show dacoity. It is a offence. You don’t show it in routine. You don’t show a murder in routine," the Court said. The judges added, "This activity (sex-determination) don’t trivialize it to show that anyone can walk in and get it done. The dramatization should be that they are aware that this should not be done, but it is still being done. It is happening in society that is another thing."The Court said that an act like pre-natal sex-determination cannot be trivialised and that from the trailer, it appeared that the family had taken the pregnant woman to the clinic to check the sex of the foetus as if it was a routine thing."The movie may go on to give a good message, but for this scene, there is no such message. There is no disclaimer on this either," Justice Chawla remarked..Even as Senior Advocate Jayant Mehta, appearing for the producers, said that there is disclaimer in the trailer which says that sex-determination of a foetus is a crime, the judges that the warning was so small that it was barely visible or legible. "It is a small thing on one side. We couldn’t even notice it. It is on the right side, small font.".While the case was listed for hearing in the post-lunch session for further consideration, the Bench did not assemble later. Counsel appearing for the movie producers said that they would supply an encrypted copy of the movie to the Court either today or by tomorrow, for the judges' examination. The matter has been listed for Tuesday, May 10.