In The Name Of Freedom Of Speech, No One Can Be Permitted To Do Anything: Allahabad HC Calls For Expert Committee To Verify Portrayal Of Religious Characters In 'Adipurush'

The Allahabad High Court at Lucknow Bench recently while dealing with Public Interest Litigations, seeking removal of the objectionable dialogues and scenes from the Film ‘Adipurush’, directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to constitute an 'Expert Committee' of not less than 5 in numbers to verify as to whether the depiction of the story of the film of Lord Rama, Devi Sita, Lord Hanuman and Ravan etc. have been depicted in conformity with the Valmiki Ramayana. The Court also directed the personal appearance of the film director and the dialogue writer along with their personal affidavits explaining their bonafide

The Division Bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Prakash Singh noted that the issue at hand is a sensitive issue touching the very sentiments and emotions of the public at large who worship Lord Rama, Devi Sita and Lord Hanuman etc and observed that "Religious Icons/Gods have been shown in the film ‘Adipurush’ in a shameful and disgusting manner as if they are fictional persons or as if they are comic characters."

Advocate Ranjana Agnihotri and Advocate Prince Lenin appeared for the Petitioners while Senior Advocate S.B. Pandey (Deputy Solicitor General of India) along with Advocate Ashwani Kumar Singh appeared for the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.  Additional Advocate General Vinod Kumar Shahi assisted by Chief Standing Counsel Shailendra Kumar Singh along with Additional Chief Standing Counsel Vivek Kumar Shukla appeared for the State. 

Directing the formation of the expert committee, the Court said that  2 members of the Committee would be the persons who are well versed with the Valmiki Ramayana, which is said to be a main source of this film and Tulsikriti Ramcharit Manas and other Religious epics. The Court also observed that "Those Icons/ Lords have been shown in a film by the film makers including the dialogue writers without taking care of holiness and sanctity of those characters. Not only the dialogues of the film are so substandard having cheap language but so many scenes of the film depicting Devi Sita are disgraceful to her very character and some scenes depicting wife of Vibhishana are prima-facie obscene also which are absolutely unwarranted and uncalled for. Even depiction of Ravan, his Lanka etc. is so ridiculous and cheap. Those facts have been narrated in both the PILs properly enclosing the relevant material. Therefore, to us, those PILs are genuine filed within four corners of law as per rules of this Court and the dictums of Apex Court."

The Court also observed that before issuing any interim order or any coercive order one opportunity should be granted to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, being the Competent Authority, to revisit the issue/ grievance of the public and pass appropriate order under the powers available under the Cinematograph Act 1952. 

Further, the Court made the following remarks in its order: In the name of Freedom of Speech and Expression, no one can be permitted to do anything, the Court said that "It is trite law that in the name of freedom of speech and expression no one can be permitted to do anything which is against the decency or morality or against the public order etc. To us, this film, prima facia, does not qualify for the test as prescribed under Article 19 of the Constitution of India."

Lord Rama, Devi Sita and Lord Hanuman are worshipped by a large number of persons in society: The Court stated that "we are pained noticing the fact that while making such film, the film makers and the dialogue writer have not taken care of feelings and emotions of public at large depicting the characters and dialogues in shameful and vulgar manner knowingly well that those Icons/ Lords e.g. Lord Rama, Devi Sita and Lord Hanuman are worshiped by the large number of persons of the society and the Censor Board has not discharged its legal duty while issuing certificate to release the film without following the guidelines issued under Section 5-B of the Act, 1951."

Offending people have been maintaining the public order: The Court remarked that "It is not fair to ignore the voice of those people who despite being offended seriously after the release of this film but have been maintaining the public order and are following the law and order. Notably, this is not a single film of this type but as per contentions of learned counsel for the petitioners some more films have been produced earlier showing the Hindu Gods /Godess /Icons in a shameful and disguising manner. If such type of illegal and immoral acts of the film makers are not checked at the earliest some more film may likely to be produced touching sensitive aspects of other religions besides Hindu religion. Hence, some stringent and deterrent action by the Competent Authority of the Central Government would be required in the present case in the interest of public at large of the country."

The High Court in its order also stated that "It has been aptly said that ‘there is no crueller tyranny than that which is perpetrated under the shield of law and in the name of justice’. Martin Luther King Jr. has rightly said that ‘injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere’. Further, the expression ‘justice’ must mean that which is right and fitting with regard to ‘public interest’."

Directing the committee to be constituted within a week from the knowledge of this order along with the personal appearance of the Director of the film Sri Om Raut, Bhushan Kumar and Sri Manoj Muntshir @ Manoj Shukla, the dialogues writer of the film, the High Court adjourned the matter for further consideration on July 27, 2023. 

Cause Title: Kuldeep Tiwari and Another v. Union Of India and 13 Others and Naveen Dhawan v. Union Of India and Others

Click here to read/download the Order