The Kerala HC & Madras HC reject the plea to ban the screening of the movie, ‘The Kerala Story’

Thiruvananthapuram (Kerala) – The Kerala High Court has dismissed a plea seeking a ban on the release of the film ‘The Kerala Story’. The Court gave this decision over the hearing on 5th of May. The film has been released nationwide on the same day. Earlier, the Supreme Court has refused the immediate hearing over the film related petition. The High Court commented that secular society in Kerala would accept the film. The Court asked the petitioners, “How can you demand a ban on a movie without watching it ?” The Court also made an observation that, ‘when the trailer of this film was seen, nothing wrong was found in it’.

The Madras High Court also rejected the petition

A petition seeking a ban on the movie, ‘The Kerala Story’ was also filed in the Madras High Court. The petition claimed that, “If the film is released, religious harmony and public peace in the country will be disturbed”. During the hearing, the Court asked, “why are you coming at the last moment ? If had come earlier, we could have asked someone to watch the film and decide. You have come here without watching the movie”.

(Credit : NDTV)

There are number of films that portray hindu sanyasis as rapists, inspite of this, no one protested against such films – The Court commented

The Court observed,

1. What is in this film that is against Islam ? The film does not blame any religion. It blames the Islamic State.

2. There are numerous films in which Hindu sanyasis are portrayed as smugglers or rapists; but that did not create any disturbances. No one did protested. There are many Hindi and Malyalam movies of this kind.

3. We don’t need to go to the truth. A film cannot be banned just because it portrays some religious leader as bad person.

4. The film has been viewed and screened by the Central Board of Censorship as per the guidelines. The film’s producer has clarified before the release of the film that ‘This film is fictional and dramatic.’ We are not interested to pass any interim order to ban this film.