New Delhi, July 5 (IANS) Maulana Arshad Madani, the President of the Islamic cleric’s body Jamiat Ulema-i-Hind has filed a public interest litigation (PIL) before the Delhi High Court seeking a prohibition on the release of the film “Udaipur Files”.

The movie slated to be released worldwide on the coming Friday (July 11) is a true story based on the Kanhaiya Lal murder case.

In June 2022, Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, was brutally murdered by Mohammad Riyaz Attari and Ghaus Mohammad by slitting his throat.

As per the PIL, the trailer of the movie, released on June 26 on Youtube, is replete with dialogues and instances that had led to communal disharmony in the very recent past and carries every potential to again stoke the same communal sentiments.

“That apart, a mere viewing of the trailer as released leaves no manner of doubt as to the plot of the movie as the trailer itself seeks to portray an entire community in a prejudicial manner, thereby violating the right to live with dignity for the members of the community,” said the plea, adding that the content of the trailer also deliberately makes references to the “sensitive” and “contentious” issue of the “Gyanvapi Masjid”, which is presently sub judice before the Varanasi District Court as well as the Supreme Court.

Purportedly, the film also explicitly mentions the alleged controversial statement made by politician Nupur Sharma, which had resulted in communal violence and, in turn, the gruesome murder of Kanhaiya Lal.

The petition stressed that the trailer, and by implication the movie that is set to follow, depicts verbatim the same content (comments against Prophet Mohammad PBUH) which resulted in widespread tensions as well as the registration of various FIRs against Nupur Sharma.

“The trailer contains dialogues and narrative elements that clearly fall within the ambit of hate speech directed against a particular community of the country and the language, imagery, and narrative adopted in the trailer are not only inflammatory but deliberately communal,” said the plea.

The petition also challenges the certification granted by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to the movie for public exhibition, claiming violation of Section 5B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Guidelines for Certification of Films for Public Exhibition.

Praying to quash the CBFC certification granted to the movie, the plea said that the trailer of the film portrayed a deeply divisive and inflammatory narrative that vilifies an entire religious community, and the release of the film “Udaipur Files” has the potential to inflame communal tensions and disrupt public order, severely undermining the fabric of religious harmony in the country.

–IANS

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