New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the West Bengal government and sought to know why it should ban the film “The Kerala Story” even when it is running in cinema halls across the country.
“Why shouldn’t you let it run? The film is running in different parts of the country with similar demographic profiles. It has nothing to do with the cinematic value of the film…it can be good or bad.
The apex court also issued notice to the Tamil Nadu government where theater owners were not screening the film.
It asked the Tamil Nadu government to specify the measures taken to provide security to cinema halls running the film.
The apex court sought response from both the governments on the appeal of the filmmakers. “The Kerala Story” depicts the story of three women from the state who allegedly converted to Islam and left home to join ISIS fighters.
Banning the film last week, Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee said the film was made to “humiliate a section of society”. “What is ‘The Kerala Story’?” he told media persons. “It’s a distorted story,” he Said,
Prime Minister Narendra Modi during an election rally in Karnataka Said The film deals with a particular kind of terrorism. Modi told the Ballari crowd that one could hear terrorism of “bombs and guns”, but “there is no sound of terrorism hollowing out society from within” – an oblique reference to religious conversion.
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