New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the West Bengal government and wanted to know why it should ban the movie “The Kerala Story” when it was in theatres all over the country.
“Why should you not allow it to run? The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie… it may be good or bad,” the top court said.
The top court also issued a notice to the Tamil Nadu government where theatre-owners were not screening the film.
It asked the Tamil Nadu government to specify measures taken to provide security to theatres running the film.
The apex court sought a reply from both governments on the appeal of the filmmakers. “The Kerala Story” depicts the story of three women from the state who allegedly converted to Islam and left home to join ISIS fighters.
Banning the film last week, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee had said the movie was made to “humiliate a section of society”. “What is ‘The Kerala Story’?” she told media persons. “It is a distorted story,” she said.
During an election rally in Karnataka, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the movie dealt with a particular kind of terrorism. Modi told the Ballari crowd that one can hear the terrorism of “bombs and guns”, but the “terrorism to hollow out society from within has no sound” — an oblique reference to religious conversion.
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