Kaali poster row: Court adjourns hearing on plea against Leena

NEW DELHI: Delhi Court on Saturday adjourned the hearing on a plea (suit) against Leena Manimekalai over the controversial poster of her documentary Kaali.

The court on July 11 had issued summons to Canada-based filmmaker Leena Manimekalai and others on a suit seeking an interim injunction to restrain the defendants from depicting goddess Kaali as a smoker in the way they have depicted in a poster and video.

On Saturday, the matter got adjourned for August 29, 2022, as the concerned Civil Judge of Delhi's Tis Hazari Court was on leave.

The court in an order passed on July 8, 2022, had issued summons of the suit and notice of the injunction application under Order 39 Rule 1 and 2 CPC to the defendants - Leena Manimekalai and Touring Talkies Media Private Limited.

Plaintiff, Raj Gaurav practising advocate on Saturday also moved an application to place "additional documents which are tweets that are directly related to the case of the plaintiff and which may affect the merits of plaintiffs case."

Earlier, the concerned civil judge had said the relief of interim injunction is discretionary relief. Further, as held by Supreme Court in a number of cases, the ex-parte ad-interim injunction has to be granted in exceptional circumstances. The judge said that the defendant needs to be heard before passing any order.

Advocate Raj Gaurav filed the suit seeking a permanent and mandatory injunction against the defendants. He stated that the defendants have depicted the Hindu Goddess Kali in a very uncalled way in posters and promo videos for their upcoming movie Kaali.

The poster of the film depicts Hindu Goddess Kali smoking cigarettes which not only hurts the religious sentiments of common Hindus but is also against the basics of morality and decency, he added.

The plea said that the poster was tweeted by Leena Manimekalai from her Twitter handle.

The plaintiff sought an interim injunction to restrain the defendants temporarily from depicting Goddess Kaali in the way they have depicted her in the poster and video and tweet.

The Delhi Police have filed a case against Leena Manimekalai in connection with the controversial poster of her documentary. The Indian High Commission in Canada had urged authorities to withdraw the "disrespectful depiction of Hindu Gods" showcased at the Aga Khan Museum, Toronto. The appeal came in the wake of a social media uproar over the controversial poster of the documentary film.