The Supreme Court of India has become the custodian of the democratic rights of Indian citizens. On Thursday the apex Court ruled that, “freedom of speech and expression is sacrosanct and the said rights should not ordinarily be interfered with by the courts.” The Supreme Court was hearing a petition from Nachiketa Walhekar who had sprinkled ink on Delhi Chief Minister, Arvind Kejriwal in 2013. Walhekar was objecting to the making of a film on Arvind Kejriwal where a video clip showing him throwing ink at Kejriwal is being used in the movie. His contention is that his case which is now pending with a lower court could be affected by the visuals.
This judgment comes close on the heels of the Karni Sena’s aggressive stance against showing the film Padmavati which stars Deepika Padukone, Ranveer Singh and Shahid Kapoor. When a trailer of the film schedule to be released on December 2, was shown in cinema halls the Karni Sena chose to vandalise the cinema halls. Sanjay Leela Bhansali was slapped right from the time he was shooting the film in Rajasthan. Now the so-called Maharanis of Rajasthan, who live in their past glories since the Privy Purse was abolished several decades ago, are asserting their long lost royalty and defending the legendary figure of Padmini the Rajput Queen. The ladies of means were led by Diya Kumar who is currently an MLA in Rajasthan, but who won’t lift a finger to punish the Karni Sena goons. A news television channel recently showed visuals of the Karni Sena leaders threatening to cut off Deepika Padukone’s nose and Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s head. This is outrageous. So far, the case of Bhansali’s film Padmavati has not come to the Supreme Court. We hope that when it does, the apex court would remain consistent in its stance that, “A film or a drama or novel or a book is a creation of art. An artist has his own freedom to express himself in a manner which is not prohibited in law and such prohibitions are not read by implication to crucify the rights of expressive mind.”