Supreme court quashes order to ban ‘The Kerala Story’ in West Bengal, directs Tamil Nadu to provide security to theatres

The Kerala Story: On Thursday (May 18), the Supreme Court put a stay on Mamata Banerjee’s decision to ban the release of ‘The Kerala Story’ in West Bengal. The court stated that West Bengal has no valid reason for not releasing the film in theatres. While implementing the decision, the Supreme Court said that the state is bound to follow law and order smoothly. The Court said, “Law cannot be used to put a premium on public intolerance, otherwise all films will land in the same spot.”

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‘The Kerala Story’ filmmakers appeal to the court

The Supreme Court’s decision came after ‘The Kerala Story’ team filed an appeal in the court to remove the ban on the film’s release in West Bengal. Along with this, the filmmakers also mentioned the situation that emerged in Tamil Nadu related to the film. The Tamil Nadu government claimed that theatre owners had voluntarily stopped screening the film, following which the Supreme Court directed the state government to step up security and take steps to ensure that the film is screened properly in theatres.

The court said, “The film will be screened in both Kerala and Tamil Nadu. Filmmakers need to put a disclaimer saying that the story is fictional and there is no evidence for the figure of 32,000.”

The Supreme Court asks questions to the West Bengal government

Earlier, on Friday (May 12), the Supreme Court had questioned the ban imposed on the release of the film from the West Bengal government. “Why can’t The Kerala Story be released in Bengal? Is it about artistic freedom? The film is running in the rest of the country”, the court asked.

TMC leader Biswajit Deb had said that the release of ‘The Kerala Story’ has been stopped under Section 6 of the West Bengal Cinemas Regulation Act, 1954, under which any film that promotes violence can be suspended permanently.

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