Bombay HC rejects PIL to stay release of Kedarnath

Mumbai: The Bombay high court on Thursday dismissed a petition filed against upc-oming movie Kedarnath. The petitioner had questioned the setting up of a love story on a holy site like Kedarnath and had also sought a stay on its release.

Advocate Ramesh Chandra Mishra and Prabhakar Tripathi had filed this petition seeking reassessment of the film by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on the grounds that the movie would hurt religious sentiments and it promotes love jihad.

The petitioners had further claimed that the film, starring Sushant Singh Rajput and Sara Ali Khan, would lower the dignity of the eponymous deity.

The petitioners stated that shooting a love scene at a place like Kedarnath, which is an important pilgrimage site for Hindus, hurts their religious sentiments. The movie is ba-sed on love story of a Hin-du girl and a Muslim boy.

According to the petitioner, the storyline of the film is imaginary and the movie is an untrustworthy story of love between a Hindu Brahmin girl and a Muslim boy connected with the natural disaster of Uttarakhand that took the lives of several Hindu pilgrims.

The petitioners had also claimed that the film, set in the backdrop of the 2013 Uttarakhand floods, dilutes the gravity of the calamity.

After hearing the arguments the division bench of Chief Justice N.H. Patil and Justice M.S. Karnik dismissed it by observing  that the public interest litigation opposing the release of this movie was not maintainable.

The petitioners had requested the court to stay the release of movie that is slated for release on December 7, until the CBFC clears it again.

On the other hand, the Advait Sethna counsel for CBFC had contended befo-re the court that the petition was ‘politically motivated’ and the certificate for release of the movie was issued after an assessment. He claimed that the board had followed all regulations in granting the certificate for public release of the film. Appearing for the film’s producers, senior advocate P. Dakhepalkar told the bench that the movie was just a love story that used Kedarnath as its setting.

Mr Dakhepalkar also said that the film is a love story between two persons belonging to different classes and faiths. It has no intention of hurting anyone.