The Supreme Court on Thursday ordered the public screening of the film Hamare Baarah to be suspended for the time being.
The order by a Vacation Bench led by Justice Vikram Nath came on a petition filed by Azhar Basha Tamboli, represented by Fauzia Shakil, who alleged that “the theme, explicit visuals and dialogues in the film are not just hurtful, harmful and defamatory to the sentiments of the entire Muslim community but are of such nature that it would in all likelihood incite hatred against Muslims in the society, breach harmony, public order, etc”.
Mr. Tamboli had approached the apex court against the Bombay High Court’s interim decision to recall its own earlier injunction order of June 5 against the release of the film.
The apex court refused to enter into the merits of the case as a writ petition challenging the release of the film was still pending in the High Court.
“Considering the facts and circumstances of the case and in particular the fact that the writ petition is still pending before the High Court and the orders are interim in nature, we dispose of the present petition with a request to the High Court to decide the pending writ petition at the earliest and till such time that petition is disposed of [by the High Court], the screening of the movie in public domain shall remain suspended,” the apex court directed.
