SC to hear on May 15 plea against Kerala HC order on 'The Kerala Story'

On May 5, the high court refused to stay the release of the movie and said the trailer does not contain anything offensive to any particular community as a whole.

                                              The official film poster of ‘The Kerala Story.’

NEW DELHI: The SC on Tuesday agreed to hear on May 15 a plea challenging the Kerala HCs order of refusing to stay the screening of the film The Kerala Story which has already been released on May 5, 2023.

The plea was mentioned by Senior Advocate Kapil Sibal before a bench of CJI DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha. Laying emphasis on the fact that the issue required urgent attention of the apex court, Sibal said that the plea had challenged HCs May 5 order.

“This concerns the film, The Kerala Story. The Kerala HC had refused to pass an order of interim stay. There is some urgency in this matter,” Sibal said.

Kerala HC on May 5 while refusing to stay the release had laid emphasis on artistic freedom and said that there was a need to strike a balance. Watching the trailer, the HC was of the opinion that it was not against a particular community and the movie had clarified that it was only inspired by true events.

The bench had also noted that none of the petitioners had watched the film and that the producers had added a disclaimer that the film was a fictionalised version of events. However, the High Court also recorded the submission of the producer that the teaser of the movie, which claimed that over 32,000 women from Kerala were recruited to ISIS, will be removed from their social media accounts.

Apart from the pleas challenging HCs order, a plea has also been filed in SC on behalf of Vipul Amruthlal Shah challenging the decision of the West Bengal government to ban the screening of the film.