New Delhi: Describing it a matter to be decided by the Election Commission, the Supreme Court on Tuesday dismissed a petition by a Congress activist, seeking to stay release of the Vivek Oberoi-starrer Modi biopic.
A bench headed by Chief Justice of India Ranjan Gogoi maintained that the petition by Aman Panwar did not deserve to be entertained also because the Censor Board has not even certified the movie so far.
"The plea is premature. What do we stop when even the certification hasn't been done by the competent authority? And a two-minute promo can't give us the idea of the whole movie. We can't entertain this," the court told senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The bench added that it is for the Election Commission of India to take a call on whether the release of the movie and its screening on the date of polls can tilt the balance in favour of the BJP or can disturb the level-playing field. "It is for the EC to also examine whether the screening can violate the Model Code of Conduct," said the bench.
Appearing for Panwar, Singhvi had argued that most of the people associated with the movie were linked to the BJP and that its release would disturb the level playing field at the time of the election.
He also called it as a constitutional issue but the CJI differed: "You are entitled to your own opinion but we think this is a non-issue. Too much of the court time is wasted on such matters."
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