SC dismisses plea against Indu Sarkar; film to release today
The Supreme Court on Thursday cleared the decks for the Friday release of Madhur Bhandarkar’s film Indu Sarkar after it dismissed a plea to halt the movie’s screening, calling it an artistic expression within the parameters of law.
A bench headed by justice Dipak Misra found no merit in the petition filed by Priya Singh Paul who claimed the movie — based on the emergency imposed by Indira Gandhi in 1975 — was an assault on her and her family’s reputation. Paul claims Sanjay Gandhi was her biological father and alleged the film, which is full of concocted facts, is derogatory.
However, disagreeing with her concern, justice Misra said: “National interest or the right to know is paramount than an individual’s reputation. In larger public interest, one cannot say I hold unto this because my reputation gets affected.”
The judge, who saw the CD of the trailer Paul submitted along with the petition, said from the rushes, the movie did not appear offensive. “It projects an era. The film direction is showing the type of governance of that time. A celluloid projection is not a documentary script. It has to have christening of characters, dramatisation and fading characters.”
Paul’s lawyer, senior advocate K Sultan Singh, argued his client had objections to the stark reality depicted in the film. He claimed the disclaimer in the film was misleading and the director had not taken Paul’s permission. The court did not accept the argument, saying the law did not require approval from an individual before a film release.
Bhandarkar, for his part, denied the movie was meant to malign any family or a leader. His counsel, senior advocate Dhruv Mehta, told the bench the CBFC had certified the movie for its release and charged Paul with making baseless allegations. Her claim of being Sanjay Gandhi’s daughter was also an unproven fact and matter of dispute before a civil court, he said.
After hearing both sides, justice Misra cited instances where books and films in the past have condemned the actions of political leaders. “One can always criticise a book once it becomes public. Let the movie be one. Why should a concept of prohibition of a move or book be there at all?” he told Paul’s lawyer.
Congress workers too have protested against the film, alleging that it shows their leaders in poor light.
The Bombay high court on Thursday asked Maharashtra government how actor Sanjay Dutt was granted parole and furlough in quick succession and within two months of surrendering to serve his five-year sentence in the 1993 Mumbai blasts case.
The high court also sought to know how the good conduct and behaviour of a convict is ascertained, and on what basis and criteria the actor was granted early remission.
A division bench of justice RM Savant and justice Sadhana Jadhav noted that Dutt surrendered in May 2013 and in July, he filed applications seeking to be released on furlough and parole.
“On July 8, 2013, he (Dutt) filed for furlough and then on July 25, he sought to be released on parole. Both the applications were allowed and that too concurrently,” justice Jadhav said.
“How did the jail authorities ascertain good behaviour and conduct within two months of the convict surrendering? Normally, the superintendent of jail would not even forward the applications. The authorities would throw out the application,” justice Jadhav said.
Advocate general Ashutosh Kumbakoni told the court that Dutt was not given any preferential treatment, but if the court felt and came to the conclusion that the state government had erred in granting him early remission, it can direct Dutt to go back to jail.
“We do not want to set the clock back in time. We are not for a moment suggesting that he (Dutt) go back to jail. But we only want such issues to be streamlined so that in future no questions are raised,” justice Savant said.
The HC said it has observed that in several cases, furlough and parole are not given even when the mother or father of the convict is on death bed.
PTI ter to take oath.
Tripathi asked Kumar to prove his majority in the 243member Bihar assembly within two days. The cabinet would be expanded after the vote, sources said.
Kumar’s resignation ended his Janata Dal (United)’s twoyear alliance with the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress and saw him forge yet another partnership with the BJP, four years after he walked out of the National Democratic Alliance.
Kumar presented a letter of support from 131 members, including two independents, a Raj Bhawan communique issued at 2:51am said.
The BJP sent party secretary Anil Jain and health minister JP Nadda for the swearing-in.
Talking to mediapersons, Nadda said the BJP was for stability and development in Bihar. “Nitish Kumar’s step is a courageous one and will send a positive message against corruption... We will contribute to the state’s development with him,” he said.
The list of former winners includes Arvind Adiga, Iris Murdoch, Salman Rushdie, Ian McEwan and Hilary Mantel.
The rules of the prize were changed at the end of 2013 to embrace the English language ‘in all its vigour, its vitality, its versatility and its glory’, opening it up to writers beyond the UK and Commonwealth.
“We had sought time to stake claim to form the government. When our leaders met the Governor on Wednesday night he told us that the letter of oath taking was given to Nitish Kumar. The SR Bommai case directive has been overlooked in the case,” Lalu Prasad said.
In the SR Bommai vs Union of India case in 1994, the Centre’s capacity to dismiss a state government was curbed as per constitutional necessities. The judgement laid down that the only way to resolve internal issues within a state’s administrative functioning would be by means of a floor test determining the support enjoyed by the party in power.
Lalu Prasad alleged that the entire political episode was fixed between the BJP and JD-U chief Nitish Kumar.
“The script was written six months ago. Nitish Kumar had met Narendra Modi and (BJP chief) Amit Shah. Nitish colluded with the BJP for my conviction in the fodder scam case.”
He also alleged that Nitish Kumar is a murder accused. “Nitish is an accused in the murder of Sitaram Singh in 1991. The court has taken cognisance. Nitish Kumar must resign on moral grounds,” he said.
The maximum of 18,969 trees will be cut in the Narendranagar forest division, said Rahul, the DFO. He does not use a surname.
Conservator (forests) of the Garhwal region, AK Rastogi, said the as per norms, trees can be felled only after double the affected land is provided for reforestation.
“Trees have to be cut for development works. But we do it after a long process. For instance, we plant 200 saplings if we cut 100 trees in a bid to maintain the green cover,” Rastogi told HT.
According to the 2015 report of Forest Survey of India, the total forest cover in Uttarakhand is 24,240 sq km, against the total geographical area of 53,683 sq km.