'Content Of Movie Communally Biased': Plea Moved In Delhi High Court Seeking Withholding Of 'The Conversion' Release

A Plea has been moved before the Delhi High Court seeking withholding of the release of the movie 'The Conversion' and to remove its trailer from Youtube till it is reviewed/scrutinized and censored by the appropriate authorities.

The Plea filed by All India Practising Lawyers Council through advocates Adil Sharfuddin & Ubaid UI Hasan avers that the Trailer of the Movie depicts biased and communal content and that the movie has the potential of communal polarization amidst the upcoming Uttar Pradesh elections.

The matter was heard today by a Bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh however, it was adjourned as the counsel for Petitioner, appearing through video conference, was inaudible.

During the hearing, ASG Chetan Sharma objected to the maintainability of the petition. He pointed out that there are several avenues in law available to the Petitioner, and asking a writ court to interfere in the matter at this is not only overstepping Article 226 of the Constitution but also amounts to asking for a john doe order, which the Courts refrain from.

He stated that there are 45-50 regimes under which the content can be objected to, including the Information Technology Act. "You can even file an FIR under provisions of IPC," he suggested. 

The Court has now adjourned the matter for hearing on October 1.

The Petitioner body has submitted that it had sent a representation to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and also to YouTube complaining about the biased and communal content shown in the trailer of the film and had also requested to remove the trailer and withhold the release of the film, but it didn't receive any response. 

The plea avers that the content of the trailer of the movie is prejudiced against one religion and against the principle under which Article 19(2) of the Constitution of India is based.

"The Trailer of the movie suggests that the content of the movie is concocted, communally biased, far away from the truth and portraying the one section of the society or particular community, as and cruel, and propagating the idea of Love Jihad. The said idea and word are a misnomer and discriminate and divide the one part of society on the basis of religion," the plea adds.

It also states that the content of the movie is based on i/logical conjectures and surmises and without any data and the said contents viable to promote hatred among the certain section of society.

"The perusal of the contents of the trailer of the movie 'The Conversion' itself suggests clearly that it has potential to cause identity-based violence, especially in a country like India which has a history of communal hatred and violence," the plea states. 

Case Title: All India Practising Lawyers Council v. Union of India & Ors.

Inputs by Akshita Saxena