Lucknow Bench Of Allahabad HC Asks ‘Adipurush’ Makers And Dialogue Writer Manoj Muntashir To Appear Before It On July 27

Lucknow, July 1 (TNA) After taking a grim view of the Bollywood film ‘Adipurush’ earlier this week, the Lucknow bench of the Allahabad High Court (HC) has now asked its director Om Raut, producer Bhushan Kumar and dialogue writer Manoj Muntashir alias Manoj Shukla to appear before it on the next hearing on July 27.

Along with this, the court has also ordered the Central Government's Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to form a five-member committee within a week and prepare a report within 15 days after hearing all the complaints related to the film.

The High Court in its remarks said, "We are pained to say that the characters of Ramayana have been depicted in the film in a very shameful manner. This is not the first film in which Hindu Gods and Goddesses have been portrayed in a wrong way. If this type of illegal and unethical act is not seen, then even more sensitive subjects will be tampered with."

This order was passed by the vacation bench of Justice Rajesh Singh Chauhan and Justice Shri Prakash Singh while simultaneously hearing two separate PILs filed by Kuldeep Tiwari and Naveen Dhawan. In its order, the court has again reiterated that the producer and dialogue writer of the film did not take care of public sentiments even once.

The court made a stern remark that the Censor Board has not performed its duty properly in this matter, nor has the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting taken any appropriate action in exercise of its legal powers. In its order, the court also ordered the ministry to form a five-member committee to watch the film again. It has also been clarified that two members should be kept in this committee who have knowledge of Valmiki Ramayana and Tulsikrit Ramcharitmanas and other related religious texts.

The court has also ordered the report of the committee to be filed in the court on the next hearing. Along with this, the court has also sought personal affidavits from the Chairman of the Board of Film Certification and Secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The court has given strict instructions that if the personal affidavit is not filed, the deputy secretary level officer of the ministry will have to appear before the court.