- As you are aware, the country’s various courts are flooded with unresolved petitions and cases running into millions that have not only crippled the justice delivery system considerably but also placed millions of ordinary citizens seeking relief/verdicts in great duress. Not only this, millions of undertrials languishing in various jails across the country are a sad state of affairs mirroring how our justice delivery system has repeatedly failed to rise above the ordinary to address the concerns of the common people. Yes, no less than the Supreme Court has made it unambiguously clear to grant bail as a norm rather than an exception, but the fate of millions of incarcerated citizens continues to hang in the balance. Therein lies the crux of the matter.
PC: The Economic Times
- Indeed, such is the belief of the Indians about neutrality and the ability of the Supreme Court that they know the rights as mandated in the Constitution will always be upheld by the Apex Court. Approaching the highest portals of the justice delivery system has not left many Indians disappointed though. However, the learned judges of the Supreme Court and the High Courts should be mindful of the way trivial and frivolous cases are filed on matters that could be simply not entertained at all. Take for instance how sporadically people/organizations/groups attempt to file cases mentioning their religious sensibilities are hurt. Especially concerning movies made on supposedly controversial topics prompting such responses have become quite regular.
- Needless to mention, courts should refuse to hear such petitions against creative freedom guaranteed under the Constitutionally guaranteed rights. As you know, freedom of expression is a right extended to every citizen of the country, including making movies. As reported in the newspapers, Bombay HC was spot on recently while mentioning that creative freedom cannot be held hostage to law-and-order problems. Hearing a case against the denial of film certification for a movie titled Emergency, it directed the Censor Board to decide by September 25. It must be acknowledged here that while the Bombay HC got it right here, many High Courts and other courts have ruled otherwise. This inconsistency doesn’t help the cause of freedom of expression one bit.
PC: Verdictum
- Looking elsewhere will reveal how the Madhya Pradesh High Court had issued a notice to the Censor Board on the same movie. The moot point to ponder over is whether courts should be venturing into this domain at all. As SC itself observed in the movie Adipurush case, everyone is touchy about everything now. And it’s true. By entertaining petitions over hurt sensibilities and becoming arbiters of what is kosher, courts end up granting censorship calls legitimacy that should not have otherwise. As it is, India has an inglorious record of censorship of films and books over decades. For the longest time, creative output hasn’t had a judicial eye on it in other democracies. But those days are over and should be over in India too. Hopefully, SC will act suitably here.
