In a happy turn of events for Aamir Khan’s son, Junaid Khan, the Gujrat High Court has allowed his film to be released on Netflix. The stay order on the film was released today by a single bench of Justice Sangeeta K Vishen.
The film was supposed to be released earlier this month, but the stay order was imposed after a plea alleged that it hurt the sentiments of the Pushtimarg community. However, after finding that the film does not target hurting any sentiments, the stay order has been lifted and the film is finally available to be streamed on Netflix.
This decision comes a day after Justice Vishen had said that she would watch the film before the next hearing to decide on the matter. Yash Raj Films (YRF), the producer of the movie, offered to provide the link and password to the court to watch the movie to decide whether it hurts the religious sentiments of a particular community as argued by the petitioners.
For the unversed, members of the Pushtimarg sect had filed a petition against the release after they came across articles about the film, which is based on the libel case of 1862 heard and decided by the British judges.
The petitioners pointed out that the British-era court, which had decided the libel case, “Castigates the Hindu religion and makes seriously blasphemous comments against Lord Krishna as well as the devotional songs and hymns.” The court then agreed to watch the film before giving its judgement.
“(Watching the movie) will be in addition to the submissions made by the learned counsels for the respective parties,” Justice Vishen said after YRF offered to provide the link and password for the court to watch the movie.
The lawyers for the petitioners as well as respondent YRF submitted that while the court may watch the movie, they were not giving up on issues of maintainability of the petition.
“Let the arguments get over. If the court feels the need we will give the link, if the court feels there is no need, we will not,” lawyer Shalin Mehta appearing for YRF said. Appearing for the petitioners, advocate Mihir Joshi said that he has no issue with the court watching the movie to decide on the petition. “If it (movie) does not run down our religion then let them go ahead with the release. We are not interested in stretching the matter any further,” he said.
Earlier, the petitioners had approached the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, requesting it to take immediate measures to block the film’s release. However, there was no response or action from the ministry, it was stated.
The 1862 libel case was centred on a clash between a Vaishnavite religious leader and social reformer, Karsandas Mulji, who, in an article in a Gujarati weekly, had alleged that the godman had sexual liaisons with his female devotees.
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