‘Bengal tolerant’: Cal HC refuses to interfere in movie ban plea
Times of India | 30 August 2024
Kolkata: Calcutta High Court on Thursday refused to interfere in the release of the film, ‘The Diary of West Bengal', calling Bengal "a tolerant society" and reminding the litigant that we were "in a democratic set-up".
"If you want to watch the movie, watch it. If you don't, then don't. You want to read a book, read it. If you don't (want to), shut the book.We are in a democratic set-up. Any healthy criticism is welcome. West Bengal is a tolerant society," a division bench of Chief Justice T S Sivagnanam and Justice Hiranmay Bhattacharyya said while hearing a PIL to stall the film's release because it sought to "depict the West Bengal CM in a bad light".
The petitioner's senior counsel, Jay Saha, pleaded that the movie also sought to "foment communal tension".
"If X, Y, Z are criticised in a movie, let them come to court. We will hear them. But who is this person?" CJ Sivagnanam said. The movie, directed by Sanoj Mishra, is scheduled to release on Friday.
The CJ made a specific reference to former Supreme Court judge Sanjay Kishan Kaul's judgement on the ban on Perumal Murugan's book, ‘One Part Woman', which was challenged in the SC. "It deals with all elements, including privacy, right to propagation of public opinion. It is a treatise. Justice Kaul says nobody is compelling you to read the book. You don't want to read the book, shut it," he said.
Saha then referred to a Madras High Court judgement in which the CJ was a member of the bench that upheld the cancellation of the certification of a movie based on the life of Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam journalist Isaipriya. "I am fortified by that order," senior counsel Saha said, prompting the CJ to recall: "The producer of the movie had showed her photographs. Her daughter, husband, mother and sister were residing in London. The mother and sister lodged a complaint representing the minor daughter as well and that complaint was taken up by the Film Certification and Censor Board and the certificate was cancelled."
"I distinctly remember that judgement. That movie depicted a person who was still living. She was a Sri Lankan. She was an actor, a newsreader. The producer of the movie used real photographs of the actor with her mother, her daughter and her husband who were then living in London. They had lodged the complaint," he added.
CJ Sivagnanam asked for listing the matter for hearing after three weeks.