The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice over a plea filed by makers of ‘The Kerala Story’ seeking to lift the ban on the film in West Bengal and the defacto ban in Tamil Nadu.
A bench led by Chief Justice of India (CJI) DY Chandrachud observed that the film is being exhibited across the country and there was no reason to ban it in West Bengal. “The film is being exhibited in the rest of the country. There is no reason why it should be banned in West Bengal. The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. This has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the movie- it may be good or bad,” the court observed.
The matter was further posted for hearing on Wednesday, May 17.
Directed by Sudipto Sen, ‘The Kerala Story’, a movie about Hindu women from Kerala who were converted to Islam and trafficked to ISIS and other Islamic war zones in 2018-2019, has stirred a political commotion. The opposition accused the filmmakers of promoting BJP propaganda in the film.
On May 8, West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ordered an immediate ban on the screening of ‘The Kerala Story’ in the state to avoid “any incident of hatred and violence”, news agency PTI reported quoting a senior official.
Reacting to the ban on screening of the movie in West Bengal, Assam CM Himanta Biswa Sarma said banning ‘The Kerala Story’ will not serve any purpose since the film is not against any community. “I do not know what is happening in West Bengal but banning the film will not serve any purpose,” Sarma told reporters in Guwahati.
“They have banned the film as they are under the impression that it is against the Muslim community but that is not true. They should have first seen the film before banning it. Then, they would have realised that the movie has nothing to do with religion,” Sarma added.
On the other hand, the movie was declared tax-free in Uttar Pradesh, Uttarakhand and Madhya Pradesh earlier this week. UP CM Yogi Adityanath announced on Twitter on Tuesday that ‘The Kerala Story’ was given tax-free status in the state. Adityanath’s Uttarakhand counterpart, Pushkar Singh Dhami followed suit shortly after.
Madhya Pradesh was the first state to declare ‘The Kerala Story’ tax-free. The move came a day after Prime Minister Narendra Modi mentioned the controversial movie in his speech during a rally in Karnataka and said the film has exposed how terrorism is corroding Kerala.
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