The Supreme Court on Thursday declined an urgent hearing to a PIL filed against the Delhi High Court order dismissing a ban on the release of the trailer of ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’.
The Delhi High Court dismissed a PIL yesterday which sought a ban on ‘The Accidental Prime Minister’ and its trailer on allegations that it defamed the constitutional post of the prime minister. A bench of Chief Justice Rajendra Menon and Justice V K Rao said the petitioner has no locus standi to file the plea and private interest was involved in it.
Petitioner Pooja Mahajan alleged that provisions of the Cinematograph Act are being misused and the film producer has released the trailer affecting the image of the office of the prime minister and giving a bad name to it at the national and international level.
During the hearing, the producers of the film said they were not made a party in the PIL and the court should not pass any order without hearing them.
Advocate Sangram Patnaik, appearing for film producers Sunil Bohra and Dhaval Gada, objected to the petition saying it was not maintainable and how could the production house was not made a party. He said if the adverse order is passed, it would be the producers who would be affected as it is their money which is at stake.
A single judge had earlier refused to entertain the plea asking the petitioner to file it as a public interest litigation.
The film is scheduled to release on January 11. The film starring Anupam Kher as Manmohan Singh is based on a book of the same name by the former prime minister’s media advisor Sanjaya Baru and is scheduled to release on January 11.
Agencies
