The Bombay high court on November 14 paved the way for the release of Match Fixing: The Nation At Stake by dismissing a petition filed by 2008 Malegaon blast case accused Lt. Col. Prasad Purohit against its scheduled release this month until the special NIA court delivered its verdict. The court observed that the film was a fictionalised account.
Purohit is among the accused in the case. A two-judge bench of Justices B.P. Colabawalla and Somasekhar Sundaresan said that the “film is not based on any true events but is a fictionalised and dramatised version of the book The Game Behind Saffron Terror, and no scenes should be construed to represent a true or accurate recreation of the actual events that transpired. Once this is the case, we find that the entire apprehension of the petitioner is misconceived.”
Purohit apprehended that the film would impact the trial as its trailer suggested that the film was based on “true events”. The high court amended the disclaimer in the film to ensure that the viewers know that the film is “a dramatised version”.