Highlights
- The Bombay High Court hearing a PIL on whether the release of Prakash Jha’s Aarakshan could pose a law and order problem has deferred its order to Tuesday (August 9).
- The Maharashtra government in its affidavit says it is well equipped to deal with any law and order situation if it arises. It says if the filmmaker wants to do a pre-screening of the film, they must include the petitioners.
- The Censor Board has already given the film a UA rating after inviting four persons from the reserved communities to view it at the board's screening.
- The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (Aug 3) issued notice to the Maharashtra government directing them to file a reply on whether there are possibilities of law and order problems after the release of the film which has landed in a row for its alleged anti-reservation stand.
- ,br> A division bench of Justices D D Sinha and A R Joshi was hearing a petition filed by two advocates stating that the film is anti-reservation and was likely to cause disharmony in the community. "The Additional Chief Secretary of State Home department will file a reply regarding possibility of law and order problems after the film is released and if there is any problem, the state government is well-equipped to handle the situation," Justice Sinha ordered.
The Bombay High Court hearing a PIL on whether the release of Prakash Jha's
Aarakshan could pose a law and order problem has deferred its order to Tuesday (August 9).
The Maharashtra government in its affidavit says it is well equipped to deal with any law and order situation if it arises. It says if the filmmaker wants to do a pre-screening of the film, they must include the petitioners.
The Censor Board has already given the film a UA rating after inviting four persons from the reserved communities to view it at the board's screening.
The Bombay High Court on Wednesday (Aug 3) issued notice to the Maharashtra government directing them to file a reply on whether there are possibilities of law and order problems after the release of the film which has landed in a row for its alleged anti-reservation stand.
,br>A division bench of Justices D D Sinha and A R Joshi was hearing a petition filed by two advocates stating that the film is anti-reservation and was likely to cause disharmony in the community. "The Additional Chief Secretary of State Home department will file a reply regarding possibility of law and order problems after the film is released and if there is any problem, the state government is well-equipped to handle the situation," Justice Sinha ordered.
The Petitioner's lawyer Sanghraj Rupwate argued that Jha, who had on Tuesday (Aug 2) claimed that he would not screen the movie to any political party, had earlier agreed to hold a special preview of the movie for Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Mayawati. Counsel for Jha, Venkatesh Dhond however refuted this and reiterated that the movie will not be screened for any political party or leader before its release.
Jha had also refuted allegations that the movie was anti-reservation and had in an affidavit said that the movie was based on the commercialisation of education system in present society and was not anti-reservation or Anti-Dalit.
Earlier, Amitabh Bachchan and director Prakhash Jha were asked to cancel their scheduled interaction with students in Lucknow on Thursday (Aug 5) to discuss the film.
Mayawati's government had said that the discussion with students could pose a potential law and order problem. In a letter, officials said that the scheduled meeting at Lucknow University could provoke protests by political parties.
Mr Bachchan tweeted several times to express his disappointment:
"And now the bad news .. our Lucknow trip tomorrow cancelled because the U.P administration withdraws all permission to conduct promo."
"The administration does not allow us to enter the city..unofficial reports by police say they have instructions to arrest us if we do."
"They say it is a sensitive subject and do not want us to enter the city even...without even seeing the film, duly Censored ?? Strange"
Mr Bachchan is now in Delhi for the next leg of the film's promotion.
The film also stars Saif Ali Khan, Deepika Padukone and Manoj Bajpai. It releases on August 12.