The Supreme Court today refused to modify its earlier order staying the ban on screening of Bollywood movie Padmaavat..A Bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justices AM Khanwilkar and DY Chandrachud heard the states of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as well as the Karni Sena and the Akhil Bharatiya Kshatriya Sabha (ABKM), before dismissing all the applications..“People should understand that a statutory body has taken the decision and we have also passed an order, so abide by it”, remarked CJI Dipak Misra..Ameet Naik of Naik Naik Co represented Viacom, while Mahesh Agarwal advised Sanjay Leela Bhansali. Senior Advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi had appeared for the petitioners at the previous hearing..Last week, the petition filed by Viacom challenging the ban on Padmaavat in four states was mentioned before CJI Misra, who agreed to list the matter. On the next day, the petitioners were successful in securing a stay on the ban of the film by various states..While granting interim relief to the petitioners, the Court had observed,.“Creative content is an inseparable aspect of Article 19 of the Constitution…Expression of ideas through the medium of cinema is a public right.”.It, therefore, stayed the notifications issued by various states banning the exhibition of Padmaavat and also restrained other states from issuing similar orders..The Supreme Court had previously dismissed petitions calling for a stay on the release of the film, before the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had a chance to approve it..The CBFC on December 30 gave the green signal for the release of the film, subject to a few cuts and a change in the title to Padmaavat. Despite the CBFC’s conditional clean chit, four states – Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and most recently, Haryana, have imposed a ban on the film, scheduled for release in other states on January 25..Read the IA filed by Karni Sena:.Read the IA filed by ABKM:.Read the IA filed by Rajasthan:.Read the IA filed by Madhya Pradesh:.Image taken from here.
