The public interest litigation (PIL) petition seeking a stay on the release of the film ‘The Kashmir Files’ has been dismissed by the Bombay High Court on Tuesday, March 8. The film will be now released as per schedule. Earlier, the Bombay HC had given the nod to hear the PIL filed by one Intezar Hussain Sayed, seeking a stay on the release of the film ‘The Kashmir Files‘.
The plea was denied by a bench consisting of Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice MS Karnik who asked the petitioner to seek redress from the central government. “Why should we lift the limitation and entertain this petition?”, Chief Justice Datta said, questioning the petitioner whether he had submitted an RTI request to find out if the CBFC had granted a certificate.
“RTI takes at least one month,” the petitioner said. To this, the Court went on to remark that it couldn’t ask for a disclaimer to be extended and dismissed the petition filed to put stay on the release of the film.
CJ: You should’ve filed an RTI to know whether CBFC issued certificate.
— LawBeat (@LawBeatInd) March 8, 2022
Petitioner: RTI takes minimum one month
The detailed order for the dismissal of the plea would be released later.
The film is based on the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus in 1990 and it is directed by National Film Awards winning director Vivek Ranjan Agnihotri. This film is scheduled to release on 11th March 2022.
The PIL filed against Filmmaker Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming movie The Kashmir Files by a resident from UP named Intezar Hussain Sayed sought to stall the release of the film. The PIL was mentioned for urgent listing before Chief Justice Dipankar Datta and Justice Vinay Joshi, who agreed to hear it on Tuesday at 4 PM. After the trailer of the movie was released, the petitioner had alleged that the trailer hurts the religious feelings of the Muslim community. However, Vivek Agnihotri had denied the allegations and said that his movie only shows the truth.
The petitioner also pleaded to immediately take down the trailer of this film till the hearing is done.
OpIndia spoke with Vivek Agnihotri regarding Intezar Hussain Sayed’s initial allegation that the film offended religious feelings. Agnihotri, in an interview with OpIndia, said he was determined to portray the genocide of Kashmiri Hindus on-screen through The Kashmir Files., “I can prove in any court or any platform of their choice that every frame, every word in my film is truth. Nothing but the truth.” On the news of a PIL being filed against the film, he had said, “They can create as many hurdles as they want but I can’t be silenced.”
The trailer for Vivek Agnihotri’s upcoming multi-starrer film ‘The Kashmir Files’ had gone viral, garnering 9.5 million views on Youtube in only ten days. While the film will be released in theatres on March 11, 2022, you can watch Vivek Agnihotri’s interview with OpIndia CEO Rahul Roushan here.
