SC sends Fox Star Studios back to HC on 'Jolly LLB 2'

The Supreme Court on Friday refused to put on hold the screening of "Jolly LLB 2" before a three-member panel appointed by the Bombay High Court.

The bench of Justice Ranjan Gogoi and Justice Ashok Bhushan asked the petitioner Fox Star Studios to approach the High Court and advance all its contentions before it. The bench asked the High Court to hear the matter on Monday - February 6 - allowing film producer Fox Star Studios to come before it on Tuesday - February 7.

The film is set for release on February 10.

"We are keeping it pending," the bench told senior counsel Kapil Sibal as he said that the film was cleared for release by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and under law the screening of the film before the panel comprising two lawyers and a doctor could not be done.

"Go and tell this to the High Court," Justice Gogoi told Sibal. "We will not say anything. We will keep it pending. Go to the High Court."

As Sibal urged the bench to see the film, Justice Gogoi said "We will not see the film. We will tell you why we will not see the film. We don't have three hours' patience. Don't you think that three hours is too long."

The Aurangabad bench of the Bombay High Court set up the committee to see the film after a Nanded lawyer, Ajaykumar Waghmare, told the court that the film was an attempt to portray the country's legal profession and the judicial system in a poor light.

It is "an attempt to portray the Indian legal profession and judicial system as a laughing stock to society at large", Waghmare told the High Court.

The High Court directed for the review of the film by the panel on February 1 and set the next hearing on February 3.