Dhruv Mehta, Naik Naik win for Indu Sarkar as SC refuses to stay the release

The Supreme Court today refused to stay the release of the Hindi feature film Indu Sarkar. The movie is based on the Emergency imposed during the Indira Gandhi regime and the events that occurred thereof..A Bench of Justices Dipak Misra, Amitava Roy and AM Khanwilkar was addressing the plea filed by Priya Singh Paul, who claims to be the daughter of Sanjay Gandhi, citing grounds that the movie infringes her privacy..Senior Advocate Sultan Singh appeared for Paul, while the film’s director Madhur Bhandarkar was represented by Senior Advocate Dhruv Mehta, who was briefed by Naik Naik & Co Partner Madhu Gadodia..The Bench said that the petitioner was entitled to explore the legal measures available for supporting her claim to be the biological daughter of Sanjay Gandhi..However, it highlighted that certain historical movies are often inspired from ideas based on the real stories and situations. The Bench impressed upon the fact that the movie has gone through the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), which had made relevant edits and certified it for release. The movie also carries a disclaimer..Justice Misra, citing the example of Napoleon, said that many historical books have been written on him based on certain accounts and experiences, all of which cannot be stopped from publishing..Paul had earlier filed a petition in the Bombay High Court claiming to be the probable biological daughter of Sanjay Gandhi. On this ground, she challenged the certificate granted to the Indu Sarkar, which was fixed for release on July 28. In her petition, she alleged that the main characters of the film depict Sanjay Gandhi and Indira Gandhi in bad light. She also claimed that she had only recently learnt about her biological lineage and was in the process of establishing the same..A Division Bench of Justices Anoop Mohta and Anuja Prabhudesai had dismissed Paul’s plea, holding that she had no locus to file the present petition, since her claim on biological lineage to Sanjay Gandhi was pending adjudication. The High Court also acknowledged that the scope of judicial review is very limited once a film is certified by CBFC..Image taken from here.