Supreme Court stays release of movie 'Hamare Baarah'

"We have seen the movie trailer in the morning and all the offensive dialogues continue in the trailer," the bench observed while staying the release of the film.

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday halted scheduled release of movie 'Hamare Baarah' on June 14, saying that the trailer of the movie is found to be "offensive".

A bench of Justices Vikram Nath and Sandeep Mehta took note of allegations that the film is derogatory to the Islamic faith and married Muslim women.

Advocate Fauzia Shakil, representing petitioner Azhar Basha Tamboli, questioned validity of the Bombay High Court's order before the court.

"We have seen the movie trailer in the morning and all the offensive dialogues continue in the trailer," the bench said while staying the release of the film.

The court rejected a submission that the objectionable scenes have been removed from the promotional teaser, as per the Bombay High Court’s order.

The counsel contended that the High Court lifted the stay on the movie's release through an "unreasoned order."

She argued that the High Court could not have directed the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to constitute a committee because the CBFC was a party interested in the litigation.

After hearing Shakil’s submissions, the apex court stayed the screening of the film till disposal of the petition by the Bombay High Court and also asked the High Court to take an expeditious decision on the plea.

The apex court said that all the objections, including the direction to the CBFC to select the committee, have been left open for the parties to raise before the High Court.

The movie which was scheduled to release on June 14, has already been banned in Karnataka.

Directed by Kamal Chandra, 'Hamare Baarah' was produced by Radhika G Film & Newtech Media Entertainment. Ravi S Gupta, Birender Bhagat, Sanjay Nagpal, and Sheo Balak Singh are credited as producers, with Triloki Prasad set as co-producer.

The Bombay High Court had earlier refused to stay the release of the movie 'Hamare Baarah', citing resulting losses to the filmmaker caused by such a move at the 'nth hour'.