The Delhi high court on July 9 directed the producers of Udaipur Files: Kanhaiya Lal Tailor Murder to arrange a screening of the film for those opposing its release. The direction came after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and director of the film claimed that “objectionable” portions had been deleted from the film and there was no ground for stalling its release.
The petitioners claimed that the film had the potential to spark communal tension and disrupt public order in the country. A division bench of Chief Justice D.K. Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal directed the producers to arrange the screening on July 9 itself for senior advocate Kapil Sibal, representing the petitioners, including maulana Arshad Madani, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind president and principal of Darul Uloom, Deoband.
Earlier, Sibal argued that the film’s intent appeared to be to fuel communal disharmony. Chetan Sharma, appearing for the I & B ministry and the CBFC, responded that the CBFC had already removed the flagged content. To this, Sibal said, the film’s “overall tone remains problematic”, and the entire purpose appeared to be to target a particular community.
The petitioners said, while Lal was murdered by two fanatics, the film’s trailer, released on June 26, “falsely” showed that the crime was carried out with the complicity of religious heads/leaders of the community. The producers informed the court that the trailer had been removed, to which Sibal responded by saying that the damage had already been done.
The petitioners also claimed that the film violated constitutional morality by weaponising the freedom of expression to weaken the constitutional vision of a plural, inclusive and secular India, and attempted to mainstream a narrative that would deepen social and religious divisions within the country.
Kanhaiya Lal was beheaded in his tailoring shop in June 2022 by Mohammad Riyaz and Mohammad Ghouse — who also recorded the act and circulated the clip — allegedly in response to his post supporting former BJP leader Nupur Sharma over her controversial remarks on Prophet Mohammed.
