SC stays West Bengal government's ban on 'The Kerala Story'
What's the story
The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the Mamata Banerjee-led West Bengal government's order banning The Kerala Story.
Defending its ban on the controversial film, the state government told the SC in its affidavit on Wednesday that the film contains "manipulated facts" and "hate speech" in multiple scenes that may hurt people's faith and trigger disharmony between communities.
Context
Why does this story matter?
Since the release of its trailer, The Kerala Story has been embroiled in controversy. The film is set in Kerala and depicts a large-scale religious conversion of women from various faiths to Islam and their recruitment into ISIS.
It is supposedly based on the conspiracy theory of "love jihad" and has been accused of being a propaganda piece against Muslims and the Kerala government.
Hearing
Elected representatives saying movie's opposers are PFI sympathizers: Sibal
Appearing for the petitioners, senior advocate Kapil Sibal said that elected representatives are labeling those opposing the movie as sympathizers of the banned outfit Popular Front of India (PFI).
Meanwhile, the producers said they will add a disclaimer in the movie saying that the claim of 32,000 women being proselytized is fictional and there is no data to back the figure.
Statement
Will watch the movie and decide: CJI Chandrachud
Reportedly, the government's counsel mentioned several dialogs that allegedly vilified Muslims.
He cited dialogs where a Muslim character is shown using incendiary language against Hindu gods, which he said will increase hatred toward Muslims.
Another character says nationalism is a sin and being Muslim is their only identity, he said.
In response, CJI DY Chandrachud said the bench will watch the movie to contextualize.
Tamil Nadu
Provide security to theater owners: SC to Tamil Nadu government
The bench also asked the Tamil Nadu government to provide security to theater owners after a petition alleged that the movie is facing a "shadow ban" in the state.
It alleged that theater owners received indirect threats to take down the movie.
However, the state government refuted such claims and said that theater owners withdrew the movie due to poor box office performance.