India's top court rejects plea seeking deletion of certain scenes from 'Padmavati'

The Supreme Court of India on Monday rejected a petition seeking deletion of “objectionable scenes” from the upcoming movie ‘Padmavati’, terming it as premature.

“Our interference in this writ petition will tantamount to pre-judging, which we are not inclined to do,” the bench, which was headed by Chief Justice Dipak Misra also comprising Justices A M Khanwilkar and D Y Chandrachud, said.

The petition was filed by a Advocate M L Sharma, however, the SC junked the plea, saying, “We cannot interfere with Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC)’s work.”

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The counsel, who had filed the petition seeking removal of all scenes of “character assassination” of Queen Padmini, alleged that though the censor board has not given a certificate to the movie, the songs of the film have already been released.

All the controversy surrounding filmmaker Sanjay Leela Bhansali’s magnum opus has deferred the Deepika Padukone and Ranveer Singh starrer movie which was slated to be released on December 1.

The controversy has erupted country-wide protests in India with support of several political and religious leaders.

Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh said, “Nobody will accept the distortion of history and those who are protesting are rightly doing so.”

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While Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan announced to ban ‘Padmavati’ in the state. “We have been reading about the queen’s sacrifice from childhood. Distortion of history will not be tolerated,’’ he said.