The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea challenging the certificate granted by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to The Accidental Prime Minister..A Division Bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V Kameswar Rao refused to entertain the Public Interest Litigation on the ground that the petitioner had no locus..Interesting, a similar plea by the petitioner was listed before a single judge bench of Justice Vibhu Bakhru earlier this week. Justice Bakhru had disposed of the plea after asking the petitioner to file a Public Interest Litigation on the issue..It is the petitioner’s stance that if the film is allowed to be released, it would cause unaccountable damage to the name and fame of the office of Prime Minster of India..The petition moved by Delhi based designer Pooja Mahajan claims that the certificate awarded to the film under Section 5A of the Cinematograph Act ought to be revoked in light of Section 5-E read with Section 13 of the Act..“That as per the provisions of Cinematograph Act only such film can be certified/given certificate if it is not against the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, friendly relations with foreign States, public order, decency or morality or involves defamations or contempt of Court or likely to incite the commission of any offence.”, the Petition submits..Claiming that the producers had not taken any permission from the characters being shown in the film, the petition also submits that the actors performing the role of public personalities such as former PM Dr. Manmohan Singh, Congress leaders Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi etc have committed the offence of impersonation under Section 416 of the Indian Penal Code and therefore CBFC could not have given a certificate to the film..Filed through advocates Arun Maitri, Radhika Chandrashekhar and Annanya Roy, the petition also assails the trailer of the film for being in violation of Rule 38 of the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules, 1983 for carrying visual titles in the trailer..It was argued that the trailer, which is exhibited on YouTube, is being motivated and is not based on the book of Sanjaya Baru, on which the movie is claimed to be based..“That by Trailer, the people are being misled including Petitioner but later on when the Petitioner discovered that it was a wrong propaganda being done as a political stunt at behest of some political party.”.The petitioner submitted that “Rules are being flouted, violated only on account of hidden agenda of political groups/parties and it is implicitly clear from the Trailer where it specifies “THIS ELECTION SEASON”.”.Read the Petition:
