The supreme court on Thursday stayed the screening of the controversial film ‘Hamare Baarah’ after taking note of allegations that the film is derogatory to the Islamic faith and married Muslim women.
The bench of Justice Vikram Nath and Justice Sandeep Mehta ordered that till the disposal of petition challenging the movie screening shall remain suspended.
During the hearing, the judges said that they watched the teaser of the movie and found it offensive.
“Today morning we have seen the teaser. It is as such with all those objectionable materials. The teaser is available on YouTube” Justice Mehta said in the hearing.
Adding to this, Justice Nath referred to the movie and said “The teaser is so offensive that the High court granted an interim order”.
A writ petition was filed before the Bombay High court by petitioner Azhar Basha Tamboli against the central Board of Film certification(CBFC) to revoke the certification granted to the film ‘Hamare Baarah’.
The petitioner alleged that the film was earlier set to release on June 7. He claimed that the trailer was derogatory to the Islamic faith and married Muslim women in India, and the film release would violate Article 19(2) and Article 25 of the Indian constitution.
According to this petitioner, the trailer portrayed the misinterpretation of Quranic verses, a verse from Surah Baqarah( a chapter in Holy Qu’ran) is misversed and states as Muslim women have no independent rights as individuals.
The counsel representing the petitioner, Advocate Fauzia Shakil submitted that the High court has directed an ‘interested party’ the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to form a committee to screen the movie.
The High court has restrained the filmmaker from releasing the movie till June 14. Later, it ordered the CBFC to form a panel of three individuals including at least one member from Muslim community to view the movie.
