Mumbai: Almost a week after Supreme Court suspended the screening of ‘Hamare Baarah’, Bombay High Court on Wednesday gave the green light for its release on June 21.
However, the court has directed the filmmakers to mute three dialogues and remove other contentious parts.
A division bench of Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh Pooniwalla, after a thorough review, concluded that the Annu Kapoor starrer did not contain any objectionable content against the Quran or Muslim community.
The court found it to be a “thinking movie” designed to engage the audience intellectually rather than being a mindless entertainer, and aimed at the “upliftment of women.”
“The movie is in fact for the upliftment of women. The movie has a Maulana misinterpreting the Quran and in fact one Muslim man objects to the same in the scene. So this shows that people should apply their mind and not blindly follow such Maulanas,” the high court said.
The concerns of petitioners, who pointed out that the film was derogatory towards Muslims and distorted Islamic teachings, was addressed by the court to ensure that no scenes would be deemed offensive.
The high court noted that premature release of the film’s trailer before Central Board for Film Certification (CBFC) certification had resulted in the controversy. The court imposed a penalty on the filmmakers, to be donated to a charity of the petitioners’ choice, citing ‘unpaid publicity’ the litigation had generated for the film.
“Violation was there vis-a-vis the trailer. So you will have to pay something towards a charity of the petitioner’s choice. Cost will have to be paid. This litigation has got the film so much unpaid publicity. We don’t think there is anything in the movie that would incite any violence. If we felt so we would be the first ones to object to it. Indian public is not so gullible or that silly,” the high court said.
The official judgment will be available on the Bombay High Court’s website.
