The Supreme Court has dismissed the review petitions asking the Supreme Court to reconsider its earlier ruling lifting the ban on the film Padmaavat.
“Governments and the people must understand that there is a Censor Board certificate and then a Court order,” said a three-judge bench today. “Better abide by it.”
It also criticized state governments for encouraging fringe groups to dictate terms to the state, and said it was the duty of the states to maintain law and order.
“How can you even put up such a petition claiming that you cannot maintain law and order,” asked Justice DY Chandrachud.
It said the film doesn’t claim to be the whole truth about the medieval queen.
“Don’t watch if you don’t want to,” it said, “but there can’t be a ban on screening.”
With this, the decks are cleared for the exhibition of the film this weekend.
The pleas were filed by the state governments of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh, as well as various organizations such as the Rajput Karni Sena.
The Supreme Court refused to entertained the please and reiterated that it is the job of the state governments to ensure law and order.
The state governments had claimed that releasing such a film could lead to violence from anti-film activists.
A Karni Sena spokesperson said the organization will soon ‘come up with a new strategy’ on how to deal with the new order.
Vijendra Singh, spokesperson of Rajput Karni Sena, said the center should now step in and ban the film throughout India. “The Centre should issue an ordinance for this purpose,” he said.
Sena leader Sukhdev Singh Gogamedi said the organization and its supporters will boycott the BJP in upcoming state elections if the central government doesn’t ban the film.
Anti-Padmaavat organizations have trashed shops and malls over the last two days in an attempt to convince the courts and the government to block the film.
They are furious about alleged historical inaccuracies in the film based on a medieval Rajput heroine Padmavati.