THE Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Centre to decide on the revision pleas filed against the CBFC certification granted to the film ‘Udaipur Files’ “immediately”. A Bench of Justices Surya Kant and Joymala Bagchi was dealing with a plea filed by film producer Amit Johnny, who has challenged the Delhi High Court’s order that had temporarily stayed the release of the movie based on the Kanhaiya Lal murder case.

 

In a brief hearing, the Justice Kant-led Bench asked the panel constituted by the Centre under Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act to decide the revision pleas “immediately without loss of time”. Section 6 vests the Centre with adequate powers to declare a film to be uncertified or pass orders providing for interim measures, including suspension of the film from public exhibition. Posting the matter for further hearing on July 21, the apex court remarked, “We can wait for some time. We are told that a committee has been formed, and the Union (Government) is looking into it. We can have the benefit of the Union of India’s view. Suppose the Union says there is nothing wrong with the movie, then we will see that. If they recommend some cuts, then also we can peruse the same.

 

If the Centre was not taking up the matter, then it was different.” The film revolves around the brutal murder of Kanhaiya Lal, a tailor in Rajasthan’s Udaipur, in June 2022 by Mohammad Riyaz Attari and Ghaus Mohammad by slitting his throat. One of the accused in the Kanhaiya Lal murder case, Javed, had filed a writ petition before the Supreme Court and has sought a stay on the release of ‘Udaipur Files’, arguing that the release of the film could prejudice the ongoing trial proceedings pending before the Special NIA court.