"No urgency": Delhi High Court refuses urgent listing of plea by Hindu Sena to ban movie Adipurush

The Delhi High Court on Wednesday denied urgent hearing of a public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking ban on the movie Adipurush. .The case was mentioned before the vacation bench of Justices Tara Vitasta Ganju and Amit Mahajan. The Court said that there was no urgency in the matter and it will be considered on June 30. The Counsel appearing for the petitioner-organisation, Hindu Sena told the Bench that the movie has several controversial scenes which are even affecting India's relations with other countries. "The movie affects India's international relations. Even Nepal has banned the film," the counsel said. However, the Bench responded that the movie has already been released and there is no urgency in the matter. "There is no urgency, sir. Please come back on June 30," Justice Ganju said. .The movie which stars the likes of Prabhas, Saif Ali Khan and Kriti Sanon was released in theatres on June 16. Since then, several people have raised objections to certain dialogues of the movie and the depictions of epic characters like Hanuman and Ravana..Vishnu Gupta, National President of Hindu Sena filed the present PIL in the Delhi High Court seeking ban on the film.As per the plea, Hindu gods and characters like Lord Rama, Sita, Hanuman and Ravan have been depicted in an inaccurate manner and their description in the film is contrary to what is described in the epic Ramayana.The petition said that depiction of characters like Ravana, played by Saif Ali Khan, is completely detached from ‘Indian civilisation’ and his bearded look is “hurting the sentiments of Hindu community as the Hindu Brahmin Ravana is shown making ghastly (sic) in a wrong manner”."Since these are essentially religious leaders/characters, the film makers, producers, and actors cannot be permitted to take an unimpeded creative liberty to commercialize the religious leaders/characters, their faces, personalities and looks including hair. This is a sheer violation of religious rights under Article 25 of the Constitution of India,” the petition said..It further argued that Hindus have a particular view of the image of Ram, Sita and Hanuman and any change/tampering with these images by film producers, directors and actors would be a violation of their fundament rights.Therefore, such feature films should not be permitted for public exhibition until corrective measures are taken by the film producers and directors, the petition demanded. .Follow Bar and Bench channel on WhatsAppDownload the Bar and Bench Mobile app for instant access to the latest legal news.