The Supreme Court on July 16 asked the special committee constituted by the I & B ministry to decide by July 21 pleas opposing the release of CBFC certified Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder on the ground that the film, based on the beheading of the Udaipur tailor for allegedy blaspheming Prophet Muhammad, was nothing but vicious vilification of Muslims. Senior advocate Kapil Sibal, who appeared for petitioner Maulana Arshad Madani, and senior advocate Menaka Guruswamy, who appeared for Mohammad Javed, prime accused in the real Kanhaiya Lal beheading case, argued against the film’s release, alleging that it vilified a particular community, would prejudice the trial in the murder case, put the accused’s life in danger and also showed the judiciary in bad light.
A bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymalya Bagchi also asked the police to provide protection to the film’s producer and his son, who have received death threats.
Senior advocate Gaurav Bhatia told the bench on behalf of the film’s producers that it was cleared by the Central Board of Film Certification after granting 55 cuts. He said that the petitioners moved the Delhi high court at the eleventh hour to stall the film’s release. He added that the producers were suffering huge losses and that the non-release of the film amounted to stifling of free speech.
The bench asked the committee to decide Madani’s representation against the film’s release by July 21, the next date of hearing. It also allowed counsel for the main accused in the beheading case to participate in the proceedings before the committee set up by the I & B ministry.
Sibal argued that after watching the film during the high court-ordered special screening, he was “shaken in every sense”. He explained that the film “is a complete thematic dissertation of hate”. He added, “It (the movie) is something that generates violence… seeds violence. It is vilification of one community, and not one positive aspect of the community is projected in the movie — violence, homosexuality, denigration of women. It is unthinkable that a democratic nation would allow screening of such a film.”
The advocate for the producers said, “Beheading of the tailor and posting of its video on social media had more than one crore views. Videos were released prior to the beheading, and after accomplishing the sinister and gruesome act. None of the petitioners protested such posting of video on social media. The film gives a message of communal harmony and is an appeal against violence.”
It may be mentioned here that Kanhaiya Lal had apologised for forwarding the post which the killers found to be sacriligious. Accused Mohammad Javed’s advocate, Menaka Guruswamy, said that the court would be completely prejudiced against Javed during the trial if the film was released. “Free speech cannot be allowed to vitiate fair trial,” she remarked, adding that certain remarks in the film by touching upon two sub judice cases — the tailor beheading and the Gyanvapi — also brought the judiciary into disrepute.