Delhi High Court rejects petition against film certification

New Delhi: The Delhi high court on Thursday rejected a plea by a Rajasthan-based group seeking quashing of the certification granted to controversial Bollywood film Padmaavat, saying the Supreme Court had permitted its release.

The film, which hit the theaters on Thursday, is directed by Sanjay Leela Bhansali and starring Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor in lead roles and is based on the saga of a historic battle of 13th century between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi. The petition opposing the U/A certification granted to the film was mentioned before a bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C. Hari Shankarby the Jauhar Smriti Sansthan, a group based in Chittorgarh in Rajasthan. The bench, however, declined to hear the matter and asked the petitioner group to move the apex court as it had permitted the screening of the film, which hit the theatres today. The impending release of the movie led to several incidents of vandalism over the past few days, including an attack on a school bus in Gurugram and torching of a Haryana Roadways bus on Wednesday.

The set of the movie was vandalised twice — in Jaipur and Kolhapur, while its director Sanjay Leela Bhansali was roughed up by members of the Karni Sena last year.

The group’s general secretary, Bhanwar Singh Bhati later told the media that he will move the apex court on Thursday itself. Bhati told the bench that a plea was moved before the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which had declined to hear the matter saying it was not maintainable.