On Thursday The Delhi High Court had rejected the plea seeking penal action against the makers of the film ‘Padmaavat’ for its alleged glorification of the practice of sati in the film. A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar rejected the plea stating the reason that the petitioner should have approached the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) at an appropriate time.
The court said, "The film stands released without any complaints and it is already in public domain. If the petitioner was having any complaint with regard to the issue raised in his writ petition, he should have made a complaint before the CBFC at an appropriate time. We find no merit in the petition. The same is dismissed.
A PIL by social activist Swami Agnivesh had sought deletion of the scenes that depict the practice of sati. As sati is an obsolete funeral custom where a widow immolates herself on her husband's pyre and the law prohibits it.
Earlier as well the court had observed that according to one of the disclaimers in the film, it is a work of fiction and therefore, the film does not show any intention on the part of the producers or director to propagate a practice.
The film was based on the saga of a historic battle of the 13th century between Maharaja Ratan Singh and his army of Mewar and Sultan Alauddin Khilji of Delhi. The film starred Deepika Padukone, Shahid Kapoor, and Ranveer Singh.
The apex court had paved the way for the nationwide release of the movie by staying the ban on its screening in Gujarat and Rajasthan. It had also restrained other states from issuing any such notification or order banning the screening of the film.
