VIJAYAWADA: The Andhra Pradesh High Court on Friday refused to issue a stay on the ban imposed by the State government on Chintamani Padya Natakam. Hearing a petition filed by Narasapuram MP K Raghu Ramakrishnam Raju challenging the ban imposed on the drama, a division bench comprising Chief Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice DVSS Somayajulu, questioned as to how sentiments of others could be hurt in the name of freedom of speech and expression.
The bench said it could not issue a stay order until it watched the drama as to whether there are scenes and dialogues in it that hurt the sentiments of a particular community. It directed the petitioners Raju and theatre artiste Trinath to submit a copy of Chintamani drama and its translation in English.
The State government banned the staging of Chintamani drama in view of objections raised by the Arya Vysya community over some “objectionable dialogues and characters” in it. Presenting their arguments in the case, petitioners’ counsels PVG Umesh Chandra and R Venkatesh said the ban on the drama struck at the root of artistic freedom and freedom of expression. Intervening, the bench sought to know if it was proper to hurt the sentiments of others in the name of freedom of expression. Later, the case was posted to July 17.