KOCHI: Tickets booked during the day for ‘The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond’ have been refunded and the film has not been screened, lawyers for the petitioners who opposed the screening of the film said on Friday.
Advocate Matri Satchidananda Hegde, who represents one of the petitioners, Sridev Namboodiri, told PTI in the afternoon that she would not file a contempt case against the film’s producer as the film was not released and the ticket sales were refunded.
In the morning before Justice Bishu Kurian Thomas, Hegde stated that although the release of the film has been suspended, booking of tickets for the film is continuing.
I mentioned this before the single judge even though the issue of release of the film was before a division bench which had reserved an order on it on Thursday after a late night hearing.
She also told Justice Thomas that she would check whether the film was being shown in theaters during the day and would therefore file a contempt petition.
Hegda said in the afternoon that after checking, she found that “the film had not been shown and that the tickets had been refunded.”
“So, I will not file for contempt,” she said.
Justice Thomas on Thursday stayed the release of the film for 15 days saying that prima facie there was a clear-eyed non-application of the requirements of the law by the censor board, CBFC.
The judge also said that since “the possibility of communal disharmony or defamation of the community is also prima facie implicated in the film”, releasing it without scrutiny by higher authorities would be legally improper.
The court also said that the content of the film’s teaser had the “apparent potential to distort public perception and disturb sectarian harmony.”
Later in the night, producer Vipul Amrutlal Shah filed an appeal before a division bench of Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and BV Balakrishnan which reserved the order in the matter after hearing extensive arguments from all stakeholders. However, the court did not issue any interim direction to stay the single judge’s decision.
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