Rajasthan High Court has sought a special screening of Padmaavat to verify the claims of an FIR, filed against Sanjay Leela Bhansali, Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh in March 2017. Back then, Bhansali had filed a petition in Jodhpur HC to quash the FIR, arguing that neither the film has been screened, nor its trailer been released. While the Censor Board and more recently, Uttar Pradesh government has given it a green signal, Padmaavat‘s battles seem far from over. The movie might be releasing nationwide on January 25, but not in Rajasthan, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Goa.
Hearing the case, the bench presided by Justice Sanjeev Mehta said:
“In order to test veracity of the allegations levelled in the FIR impugned, the disputed movie has to be perused albeit discreetly.”
Also read: ‘Padmavat’ finally cleared by CBFC for release on Jan 25, will clash with Akshay Kumar’s ‘Pad Man’
As per Indian Express, an FIR was filed in March 2017 in Rajasthan’s Nagaur district against the director and the two actors, ‘under IPC Sections 153A (promoting enmity between different groups on ground of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc.) and 295A (deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs)’.
The court told the petitioners that in order to quash the FIR and the claims, the court would have to watch the movie to ascertain there is no distortion of history. Also, the screening would have to be made on or before January 23, as reported by DNA.
Also read: Former royal slams Prasoon Joshi for clearing Padmavat(i) without consent
