Today, the Supreme Court sent notice to the West Bengal government in response to the makers of the film ‘The Kerala Story’, challenging the decision of the Mamata Banerjee government to ban the screening of the movie in the State.
The Supreme Court also gave notice to Tamil Nadu govt that the movie was effectively banned in the State. The hearing of the case has been scheduled for Monday, and the Supreme Court requested responses from the West Bengal and Tamil Nadu governments.
“The movie is being exhibited all over the country; why should West Bengal forbid it, and why should you forbid it from running? The movie is playing in several regions of the country to audiences with comparable demographics. Whether the movie is good or bad has nothing to do with this, according to Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud.
The West Bengal government said last week that it has banned the exhibition of the film ‘The Kerala Story’ is likely to cause a breach of peace and that it has prohibited the screening of the film to avoid any incident of hatred or violence to maintain law and order in the state. The video, which tells the story of three women who are sold to ISIS camps after being converted to Islam through marriage, was originally outlawed in West Bengal.
On the decision to ban the film, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said, “It is to avoid any incident of hatred and violence, and maintain peace in the state.”
The film’s producer, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, responded to the ban by saying they will seek legal recourse against the decision.
“We will investigate legal options if the state government doesn’t listen to us. However, we will base any decision we make on legal counsel,” Shah said.
The movie, directed by Sudipto Sen and produced by Vipul Amrutlal Shah , the film evoked sharp opposition from Kerala Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan, who called this ‘RSS propaganda’.
Congress MP from Kerala, Shashi Tharoor accused the makers of misrepresenting Kerala. While running for the BJP in Karnataka, which is holding elections, Prime Minister Narendra Modi also spoke on the matter and accused the Congress of siding with terrorists.
The movie’s trailer, which said that 32,000 women from Kerala had vanished and joined ISIS, ignited a huge uproar surrounding it. The controversial character from the trailer was eventually taken out in response to complaints, though. Later, it was described in the trailer as the tale of three Keralan ladies.