Delhi high court judgment on movie' Ramleela'

Delhi High Court: Dismissing the plea of the petitioner seeking to ban the release of the movie ‘Ramleela on ground that the title of the film is a deliberate attempt to hurt the religious sentiments/religious feelings of Hindus at large as the movie had nothing to do with the life of Lord Rama, the 2-judge bench of Hon’ble NV Ramana, CJ and Hon’ble Manmohan, J held that since the film has not commercially released yet, the petitioners haven’t viewed it and the effect of the words, title and scenes will have to be judged from the standards of a reasonable, strong minded, firm and courageous man and not from that of a weak and vacillating mind. The Court also opined that no organization can claim to be sole proprietor of names of Hindu Gods and that Hinduism is a religion which promotes tolerance and catholicity of outlook. It was held that though censorship of films constituting prior restraint is justified under the Constitution of India, yet the censors have to make a substantial allowance in favour of freedom, thereby leaving a vast area for creative art to interpret life and society with some of its foibles along with what is good. [Rashttravadi Shiv Sena v. Sanjay Leela Bhansali Films Pvt. Ltd., W.P.(C) 6384/2013, decided on October 9, 2013 ]

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