The Supreme Court on Tuesday ruled that the national anthem must be played in cinemas before movie screenings and all exits will be shut during that time. Governments are expected to implement this rule within ten days. The court stressed that everyone should rise for the anthem, with the national flag on the screen, because citizens, “are duty-bound to show respect to the national anthem which is the symbol of the constitutional patriotism.” The idea of “any different notion or the perception of individual rights…is constitutionally impermissible,” the Court further ruled. This ruling comes in the wake of a petition by an individual who runs an NGO in Bhopal. The ruling has created a stir since Indians are now expected to overtly express their patriotism even inside an entertainment auditorium. Questions have also been raised about the Court’s order to close the exits of the cinema halls while the anthem is being sung since there could be emergencies such as the outbreak of fire or an earthquake. But the Court seems to have overlooked these exigencies. Lawyers for the petitioner had argued that the movement of people in and out of the hall in the middle of the anthem is disrespectful.
In the 1960s cinema halls in India used to play the anthem after a movie has ended, but people were often seen walking out in the middle. The practice faded with the arrival of multiplexes. Whether or not to stand in the cinema hall during the anthem has generated much debate and confusion. Last year, the Madras High Court had ruled that in cinema halls, people are not bound to stand for the anthem. The court was responding to the home ministry’s directive to all states that standing would interrupt film screening and create disorder and confusion rather than add to the dignity of the anthem. But the recent apex court ruling seems to fall in line with the climate of rising nationalism in the country where the Government has ruled that all educational institutions too should put up the national flag of a certain dimension atop the highest point in the building. There is a feeling in the country today that judicial overreach has gone over the top. Indeed, the judiciary is increasingly intruding into the executive and legislative domain when its own judicial work remains pending for years. Time for a constitutional amendment?