INTRODUCTION
The two PILs, one filed by Anindya Sundar Das and the other by Debdatta Majhi, have contested the State’s decision to forbid the film’s exhibition. The petitioners argued that the government cannot outright forbid the showing of a movie by providing a notification. Numerous petitions opposing the film were submitted to numerous courts across the nation. The top court is hearing an appeal in relation to the same. The Kerala Story’s creators had appealed the prohibition, and on May 12 the Supreme Court had sent notice to West Bengal and Tamil Nadu.
DECISIONS BY DIFFERENT STATES AND COURT
According to the West Bengal government, this Movie contains hate speech and is based on fabricated information, both of which might cause communal strife and law and order problems in the State.
The Tamil Nadu government denied enforcing any restriction and claimed that the film’s removal from theatres was the result of a negative reception from the crowd. A gang of Kerala ladies who join ISIS is the subject of the Hindi film The Kerala Story. The movie received criticism from a variety of sources even before it was released. Both the government CPI(M) and the opposition Congress party in Kerala said that the film was propaganda for right-wing organizations, pushing a false narrative and their agenda.
The release of the movie had been rejected by the Kerala High Court. After viewing the teaser and the trailer, a bench of Justices N Nagaresh and Sophy Thomas decided that the film was about the terrorist group Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS), not against Islam or Muslims as a whole. The Kerala High Court was already hearing a similar case, and the petitioner had contacted the Court at the eleventh hour, according to the Madras High Court, which dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) attempting to prohibit the film.
Calcutta High Court Order
The hearing in the public interest litigation (PIL) petition regarding the West Bengal ban on the divisive movie The Kerala Story was postponed by the Calcutta High Court division bench of Chief Justice TS Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya because the Supreme Court is already considering a similar petition. As a result, the High Court will wait for the apex court’s ruling.