The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Karnataka government and sought its response to a petition filed by a Bengaluru resident, challenging the de facto ban on the screening of the Kamal Haasan starrer Thug Life in the state.
A two-judge vacation bench of the top court, headed by Justice Prashant Kumar Mishra and Justice Manmohan, issued notice and sought a response from the Karnataka state authorities after hearing the PIL filed by Bengaluru resident M. Mahesh Reddy, through his advocate A. Velan.
The Public Interest Litigation (PIL) sought direction from the top court to appropriate authorities to ensure the safe and unimpeded screening of the movie across Karnataka.
Velan on Friday argued that the State has completely capitulated to the elements calling for riots against linguistic minorities and burning of theaters.
The counsel further contended before the top court that sadly, no FIR has been registered by the state authorities and no action has been initiated against such kind of elements, instead the State has joined hands with extremist elements.
The plea of Reddy sought a declaration from the top court that the ban on the movie was illegal, unconstitutional, and void ab initio, being violative of Articles 14, 19(1)(a), 19(1)(g), and 21 of the Constitution.
"This ban stems not from any lawful process, but from a deliberate campaign of terror, including explicit threats of arson against cinema halls, incitement to large-scale communal violence targeting linguistic minorities, and a chilling call for a repeat of past anti-Tamil riots," the plea contended.
After hearing these submissions, the court noted that the lawyer argued that a duly CBFC certified Tamil feature film Thug Life is not allowed to be screened in the theatres in the state of Karnataka.
"The so-called ban under the threat of violence stems from not any lawful procedure, but from a deliberate campaign of terror, including explicit threat of arson against cinema halls, incitement to a large-scale violence targeting linguistic minorities," the bench noted.
It further said, considering the urgency shown and the issue brought before this court, we issue notice to the respondents.
Haasan's film, Thug Life, has released across various cinema halls across the country on June 5. The film, however, has not been released in Karnataka following a controversy over the actor's alleged remark on the Kannada language.
This has prompted a theatre association from Karnataka to approach the apex court recently, seeking appropriate directions in the issue.
The two-judge vacation bench of the apex court, however, asked the theatre association from Karnataka to approach the Karnataka High Court instead.
As per the petitioners, certain movie theatres in Karnataka are showing willingness to screen the film.
Controversy around the release involves Haasan’s alleged remarks during the film's audio launch, where Haasan stated that Kannada originated from Tamil.
