Supreme Court seeks Centre's reply on plea alleging mockery of persons with disabilities in film Aankh Micholi

The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Central government on a plea highlighting that the film Aankh Micholi makes several disparaging remarks against people with disabilities (PwDs) [Nipun Malhotra v. Sony Pictures Films India Pvt Ltd]..A Bench of Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud and Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra observed that it was an important issue and, therefore, it would hear the matter properly before delivering a judgment."Guidelines prescribed by the Central government state that the Certification Board will ensure that the scenes showing abuse of physical and mentally disabled are not shown. We issue notice to the Union on this aspect alone since this is about proper construction of statutes, especially when films concerning the differently-abled are sought to be shown," the Court said. .The petitioner, disability rights activist Nipun Malhotra, had filed the plea on finding that derogatory and discriminatory remarks were directed towards persons with disabilities in Aankh Micholi, which was produced by Sony Pictures Films India.Malhotra's grievance was that the film and its trailer contained derogatory references to persons with disabilities. .Senior Advocate Sanjoy Ghose appeared for the petitioner today and argued that people with speech disabilities were called atki hui cassettes (stuck cassettes) and that a person with memory issues was called bhulakkad baap (forgetful father) in the film."This is a case where they show these are people with disability and they are made fun of and they have to hide their disability in order to get married to women. Look at what Supreme Court has opened - Mitti Cafe - and see what is happening here," he added."The whole purpose of the movie is to show them as lovable characters and it is about assimilation," the opposing counsel countered.To this, Ghose pointed out,"At least they should run a ticker saying there is no intention to harm the disabled. CBFC could also have one member who is disabled...Can the Censor Board at least have members from the community?".CJI Chandrachud, meanwhile, observed that the Court could not look at the matter from an ableist perspective."We cannot look at this from an ableist perspective and if an able-bodied person sees this, then this is fine. But we have to look at it from the eyes of the people in question," he explained..The matter reached the Supreme Court after the Delhi High Court dismissed Nipun Malhotra's plea, opining that there should not be too much censorship in India.The High Court, at the time, had also observed that India was already among the few countries that have prior censorship laws in place..In his plea, Malhotra has also urged the Court to direct the movie's producer to create a short awareness film to highlight the hardships faced by persons with disabilities and raise awareness about the subject."The portrayal of persons with disabilities in a facetious manner is neither essential to the film's plot nor contributes to the dismantling of harmful stereotypes surrounding them," the plea added..Advocates Jai Anant Dehadrai and Pulkit Agarwal assisted Ghose..[Read Order]