A Pune court today prohibited release of an under-production film on Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, in response to a civil suit alleging that it may "incite people on communal lines".
The order was passed by civil magistrate K M Pingle 'ex-parte', as the defendants did not appear before the court despite notices issued to them.
Hemant Patil, an activist, had filed the suit seeking ban on the film being produced by Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha. The film's working title is 'Desh Bhakt ('patriot') Nathuram Godse'.
It was slated for release on January 30, 2015, but it has not yet hit the theatres.
Advocate Wajid Khan, Patil's lawyer, said the defendants failed to appear on five occasions, so the court today passed the order ex-parte (in the absence of one of the parties).
According to the suit, Mahasabha's general secretary Munna Kumar Sharma had been quoted by the media as saying that "the film would show that Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi, was a patriot while Gandhi was anti-Hindu."
The film may "incite people on communal lines", Patil had argued, seeking to stop the release of the film until the producer satisfied the court that it would not in any way cause communal disharmony leading to flare up.
