HC refuses to stay release of 'Santa Banta Pvt Ltd' movie

Delhi High Court today refused to stay the release of the movie 'Santa Banta Pvt Ltd' scheduled for tomorrow.
Justice J R Midha passed the order declining the plea of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) seeking stay on the film on the ground that Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has not complied with the high court's direction.
The counsel for DSGMC referred to the April 19 direction during the hearing of the contempt plea filed by it and two others against CBFC chairman Pahlaj Nihalani and CEO Anurag Shrivastava, in which it was alleged that they had not complied with the March 29 directions given by the court.

He said that CBFC has not complied with the high court order asking it to give them hearing on the issue. The DSGMC had claimed that the film makes fun of the Sikh community.
Seeking stay on the film's release, DSGMC claimed that they had met CBFC officials at Mumbai in pursuance to court's April 19 order, but were neither given a proper hearing nor was the movie shown to them.
Countering the submissions, central government's standing counsel Anil Soni said a patient hearing was given to DSGMC.

The court refused to stay release of the movie observing that it has the jurisdiction to hear only contempt matters and as per the arguments advanced by the standing counsel, no contempt was made out.

The bench also told the petitioner that it does not have the writ jurisdiction to stay the release of movie and they can approach appropriate court as per law. "Under the contempt action, injunction cannot be granted," the court said.
To this, the DSGMC sought withdrawal of their plea, which was allowed by the court.
At the outset of the hearing, the bench said it had
already made it clear it won't interfere with the Censor Board's certificate granted to the film for public viewing.
However, the lawyer for petitioner Ujjawal Anand Sharma said he was confining their plea to the second prayer.

Sharma has said, in his plea, that this would reduce burden of cases before the high court and would also "result in a speedy and relatively cheap and effective remedy for a person aggravated by a film certified for public exhibition".
Yesterday, the court had cleared the decks for release of the film saying there was nothing objectionable in it.
It had dismissed a plea, by Ajay Katara, opposing the film's release, which was today, saying the petition was "devoid of merit" and the allegations in it were "vague and unsubstantiated".
The bench was of the view that video trailer and posters of the film were "not sufficient to arrive at a conclusion that the contents of the film are objectionable as sought to be contended" in the plea.

The court had also said that since the CBFC has certified the movie, starring Soha Ali Khan and Vir Das in the lead, for public exhibition, "no interference is warranted".
The PIL by Ajay Katara had opposed release of the film claiming that it is against the ideology of the "oldest political party of the country" and that it showed an existing political figure in a bad light as the producers used a look-alike of the person in the movie. Katara had not named the political figure in his plea.