SC's Order on 'Padmavat'

Why in news?

• The Supreme Court has stayed the notifications and orders by certain States to prohibit the exhibition of the movie Padmaavat.
• Click here to know the controversy with the movie.

What is the rationale?

• There were apprehensions that states were sympathising with fundamentalist elements for protecting the vote banks.
• Notably, Rajasthan, Gujarat, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh have been explicit in voicing support for the protestors who have clearly violated the law.
• However, these were legally masked as “law and order issues” to curtail freedom of expression.
• Freedom of speech is indeed subject to reasonable restrictions (like public order) under article 19.
• But governments should not succumb to the use of “violent threats and intimidations” by fringe groups.  
• The SC has thus ruled that states have to balance between the twin responsibility of protecting free speech and maintaining law and order.
• States cannot choose between the two or compromise one for the other as both are important state duties.

Is the call for a ban justified?

• The film does not claim any historical accuracy and the protestors taking offence have not even seen the film.
• Despite this, several cuts were already suggested by a special panel formed by the CBFC to re-examine the film after initial certification.
• This was in addition to the filmmakers agreeing to change the name of the film from Padmavati to Padmaavat.
• Notably, Padmaavat was the actual title of the medieval fictional poem which the movie is based on.
• Given these responses for public sentiments, a further call for a ban seems irrational.

What lies ahead?

• The state machinery should keep it responsive but not subdued to the fundamentalist attitudes in the society.
• The state institutions should take serious note of the SC order to balancing between their varied roles to uphold the constitutional principles.

Source: The Hindu