HC dismisses PIL against release of Irumbu Thirai

The Madras High Court on Wednesday dismissed a public interest litigation petition filed against the release of actor Vishal-starrer Irumbu Thirai, slated to hit the screens on Friday, just because the trailer of the movie allegedly contained certain dialogues against Aadhaar card and the Centre’s Digital India initiative.

A Division Bench of Justices V. Parthiban and P.D. Audikesavalu rejected the petition at the admission stage itself after holding that they did not find any merits in the case. During arguments, the judges wondered how could such a case be filed even without watching the movie and knowing in what context was such dialogues delivered.

If the petitioner would decide which movie should be released and which should not be released on the basis of the trailer, then what was the purpose of having constituted a Central Board of Film Certification which had already cleared the decks for the release of Irumbu Thirai, Mr. Justice Parthiban asked the petitioner’s counsel.

In his affidavit, the petitioner N. Natarajan, 45, of Thathiapuram in Namakkal district, stated to have watched the trailer of the movie on Youtube and shocked to notice that some of the dialogues were against Aadhaar cards.

“Aadhaar card is issued only for the welfare of the general public which cannot be doubted in any event,” the petitioner said and contended that a movie which creates panic among the people with respect to the government welfare measures such as the issuance of Aadhaar cards and the Digital India initiative should not be allowed to be released for public viewing.

Though he had included the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, CBFC as well as the production house Vishal Film Factory as respondents to his PIL, the judges dismissed his case without even issuing notices to any of the respondents.