It is commendable that recently the Supreme Court and the High Courts of Madras and Kerala rightly refused to ban the release of a controversial film, ‘The Kerala Story’. Looking at subjective issues through a prism of supposed objectivity is something which we Indians are afflicted with majorly. Every other month there are instances of litigants who run to courts seeking a ban on a movie or book because they found something objectionable.
As of 2023, there are around five crore cases pending in Indian courts which involve far more pressing matters than deciding on the merits of assorted bans. An overburdened judiciary is mired in and bogged down by frivolous cases, preventing it from addressing more substantive issues that have a more far-reaching impact on the life of the common man.
As regards films, the Censor Board should be the only regulator and its decisions should be taken as final. Making courts the arena for opposing a censor board decision by all and sundry is downright irrational and unreasonable. In fact, it should be branded as a criminal pursuit and costs should be imposed on such ‘moral interest litigants’ for wasting humongous amounts of a court’s precious time.
