New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday ordered Election Commission to watch the PM Modi biopic and take a call on whether the movie should be banned or not. The court could has asked the poll body to give its view by April 22 in a sealed envelope.
The top court on Friday agreed to hear the matter after the producers raised issues related to fundamental rights of freedom of speech and expression.
The development comes after, the Election Commission had stalled the release of the movie till the end of Lok Sabha elections, on Wednesday, April 10, a day before the release date of the movie. The commission had said any such “biopic material in the nature of biography/hagiography sub-serving the purposes of any political entity or individual connected to it, which is intended to, or which has the potential to disturb the level playing field during the elections, should not be displayed in the electronic media including cinematograph during the operation of MCC”.
The top court had earlier quashed a petition by a Congress leader seeking to put a stop to the release of the film, saying that it was for the Election Commission to decide if the movie tilted the balance in the Bharatiya Janata Party’s favour as the Congress party has alleged. Rubbishing the arguments of counsel for petitioner the court had said the film is not yet released. “How does it disturb the natural balance of level playing field in politics” — cannot be decided by the court, the bench had said.
Chief Justice Ranjan Gogoi had then said that the certificate of the film is yet to be issued and had asked the EC to decide how does the film impact the upcoming elections, and creates political mileage for a particular party.
Election Commission stalls Modi biopic release till Lok Sabha elections end
