A group of Pune-based lawyers have moved an intervention application opposing the suit for a ban on the controversial film Deshbhakt Nathuram Godse, which attempts to bestow a patriotic halo around Mahatma Gandhi’s assassin.
The group of lawyers, who have filed the intervention application in a civil court here, is headed by noted city-based Gandhian activist and human rights advocate, Asim Sarode.
Speaking to The Hindu , Mr. Sarode said that the lawyers filing the intervention were of opinion that such a film was “utterly incapable of denting the stature of someone like Mahatma Gandhi.”
The intervention application is filed under the provisions of order 1, rule 8A of the Civil Procedure Code, 1908. The application notes that while Godse was no patriot and was in fact a murderer, the film ought to be released in accordance with Article 19 of the Indian Constitution protecting a person’s right to freedom of speech and expression.
“It is true the film attempts to project Godse as a patriot and Gandhi as an anti-Hindu. In doing so, the director is projecting half-truths in an exaggerated manner. Even then, under Article 19, the State shall provide a person following a different philosophy an environment to freely express his thoughts,” says the brief, noting that such defamatory action (the film) would not “hurt Gandhi’s image or immortal thoughts”.
The controversial film, slated for release on January 30, is directed by Munna Kumar Sharma, who is general secretary of the Akhil Bharatiya Hindu Mahasabha, India’s oldest right-wing nationalist party now relegated to the fringes of the political spectrum.
A petition seeking the film’s ban was filed by activist Hemant Patil, who argued that the film had the potential to incite people on communal lines. It urged delaying release of the film until the court was satisfied it would not spark communal tensions.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled on January 28.
