SC declines to entertain plea seeking stay on streaming of movie “Why I killed Gandhi”

PTI, Jan 31, 2022, 8:08 PM IST

The Supreme Court Monday declined to entertain a plea seeking a stay on the streaming of the movie “Why I Killed Gandhi” released on Over The Top (OTT) platform ‘Limelight’, on the death anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi. A bench of Justice Indira Banerjee and JK Maheshwari granted liberty to the petitioner to approach the High Court for relief. The bench told the petitioner — Sikander Behl — that a writ petition under Article 32 shall only be filed when there is a question of violation of fundamental right.

“In the instant case, no fundamental right appears to be violated”, the bench said, adding that the petitioner as a citizen if have a valid cause of concern is at liberty to approach the High Court under Article 226.

At the outset, advocate Anuj Bhandari, appearing for the petitioner, submitted that several derogatory words have been used in the movie which was released on the OTT platform on January 30. He said that in the movie jokes are being shown to be made on Gandhi with people laughing at those jokes. The bench asked counsel as to why he approached the Supreme Court straightaway to which Bhandari said that the movie, which was released yesterday has not been approved by the Censor board. He said that the movie can be removed from the OTT platform if the court so directs as “They have been tarnishing the image of the father of nation and feelings are being hurt of the entire nation”.

The lawyer said that the movie is being streamed across the nation and therefore the order of one High Court will not be enough as it has jurisdiction only over the respective state.

The plea of Behl said that if the release of the movie is not stopped then the same would irreparably tarnish the image of the Father of the nation and would cause hatred and disharmony in the society. It sought to stop the release and exhibition of the movie with immediate effect and effective regulation for OTT platforms.