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You can't ban Padmaavat, says SC in diktat to states

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed the orders and notifications issued by Rajasthan and Gujarat governments prohibiting the screening of the controversial movie 'Padmaavat', clearing the decks for its nationwide release on January 25.
A bench headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also restrained other states from issuing such notifications or orders prohibiting the exhibition of the film.
The bench, also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, observed that the states are obliged to maintain law and order.
"When bandit queen can be released, why not this movie?" questioned Chief Justice of India Dipak Misra, referring to the controversial 1994 movie based on the life of dacoit-turned-politician Phoolan Devi.
"A film may bomb at the box office, or people may choose not to watch it, but states cannot use their machinery to prohibit its exhibition citing risk to public order," said the judges.
Senior advocates Harish Salve and Mukul Rohatgi, representing Viacom 18 and other producers of the movie, told the bench that states have no power to issue such notifications banning the exhibition of a film when the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) has given a certificate for its release.
The producers had approached the top court challenging the notification and orders issued by four states-- Gujarat Rajasthan, Haryana and Madhya Pradesh-- prohibiting exhibition of the film.
The governments of Haryana, Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan had declared that they would not allow screening of the movie.
Additional Solicitor General Tushar Mehta, who was representing Rajasthan, Gujarat and Haryana, informed the bench on Thursday that the notifications and orders were issued only by the states of Gujarat and Rajasthan.
Karni Sena, the fringe group that has been at the forefront of protests against Sanjay Leela Bhansali's film, Padmaavat, has refused to back down.
Within hours of his comment, news came from Bihar's Muzaffarpur that some people, who identified themselves as members of the local Karni Sena unit, vandalised a cinema hall. More reports inside
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