Madras HC dimisses plea seeking ban against "The Kerala Story"

CHENNAI: The Madras High Court on Thursday dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a ban on the controversial multilingual film 'The Kerala Story'. A division bench of the court said the matter had already been handled by the Supreme Court and the Kerala High Court. The PIL was filed by city-based journalist-activist B R Aravindakshan. He tweeted that the case had been ''dismissed'', even as he stated that the bench had asked him why he had approached the court in the ''last hour'', and that had he come earlier, the court could have asked someone to watch the film and decide. Aravindakshan said he had requested the Centre in November last year ''to verify the truth of the information in the teaser of that film.'' The film claims that young Hindu women were radicalised and converted to Islam in Kerala and inducted into the terrorist outfit Islamic State (IS). ''But they have issued a censor certificate without taking any action on my petition. So I approached the court as per law to direct the central government to check the number of women who have converted and joined the extremist movement, after 177 days without any other option,'' Aravindakshan added. The Sudipto Sen-directed film is scheduled to be released on Friday. The Supreme Court had earlier on Thursday refused to entertain a petition challenging the censor board certification granted to the controversial movie.