Telangana high court refuses stay on release of 2 NTR films on poll eve

Hyderabad: The Telangana High Court on Tuesday refused to stay the screening of two Telugu films, Lakshmi Veera Grandham and Lakshmi’s NTR which are slated to be released before the general elections and dismissed a petition to that effect.

A division bench comprising Chief Justice Thottathil B. Radhakrishnan and Justice A. Rajasheker Reddy was dealing a PIL by Mr V.D.V.V. Satyanarayana apprehending that the release of the movies would cause mutual hatred, tension between citizens who followed the ideology of two opposite political parties which are contesting in the ensuing general elections.

The petitioner stated that he had approached the Chief Election Officer and the Telangana state government but his plea was not considered.

Chief Justice Radhakrishnan after hearing the submissions of counsel for the petitioner orally observed, “How can one crush people’s opinion… rather the movies are the opinion of a particular person… Though the movies are based on political rivalry, courts cannot lay curbs on the fundamental rights of the citizens from expressing themselves.”

“...This movie can be an added publicity to the concerned political party… how can the petitioner make the High Court adjudicate a personal opinion by converting the courts into boardrooms,” the Chief Justice asked.

While reacting to the contention of counsel for the petitioner that there might be instances of hatred expressed after the release of the movies, Chief Justice Radhakrishnan opined that in India, the community fabric was not so fragile. The people of India do have the courage and guts to undergo such situations, he said.

The court said there was no public interest in the petition and dismissed it.