Mumbai: A Pune court has rejected a plea by a group of people seeking to intervene in a civil suit which prayed for a ban on the release of forthcoming film ‘Desh Bhakt Nathuram Godse’. The suit, filed by activist Hemant Patil, urges the court to restrain the defendant Akhil Bhartiya Hindu Mahasabha from releasing the film saying, “It has the potential to incite people along communal lines”.
The suit alleged that Mahasabha general secretary Munna Kumar Sharma had alleged in a section of media that “the movie would depict Nathuram Godse, the assassin of Mahatma Gandhi as a patriot, and Gandhi as anti-Hindu”. Recently, the court had rejected an application filed by a group of lawyers who had sought to intervene in the matter.
In an order, Joint Civil Judge K M Pingle said that the defendant had not yet come before the court and the movie also has not been released. Without hearing the defendant, the court cannot entertain the application of intervenors, the judge said. “In this case, the defendants have not yet appeared. The injunction order is to be passed against the defendants. Without hearing the defence of the defendant, I do not wish to entertain third parties who are not parties to the suit,” the judge said.
The suit’s main prayer is to stop the release of the movie until the producer is satisfied court that it would not in any way flare up communal issues or cause disharmony among people. The court had recently summoned the defendant who have not yet appeared and rendered his defence.
