Sheena murder film: Court restrains release of material

The Bombay high court on Wednesday restrained the producer of Bengali movie Dark Chocolate from releasing any further material apart from what they have already released, pending the hearing on a petition filed by media baron Peter Mukerjea’s sister. The film, the trailer of which is out on the Internet, is said to be based on the Sheena Bora murder case and Peter was recently charged in the case.

Peter’s sister Shangom Das Gupta has field a petition in the Bombay high court seeking a stay on the release of the film on the grounds that it would result in prejudice against her brother during the trial. According to her petition, for a fair and impartial trial, the movie should not be allowed to release.

Granting interim relief to the petitioner, the division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice G.S. Patel granted stay on release of any trailer as well.

Senior counsel Venkatesh Dhond, on behalf of the petitioner, clarified that Peter was in judicial custody and hence could not file the petition himself, so the verification process could not be done. He assured the court, “We will initiate the process and include Peter as the second petitioner.”

Agnidev Chaterjee, Kolkata-based director of the movie was present in the court and informed the bench that the shooting of the movie was complete and it is presently in the post-production stage. He also said that the movie would be ready in approximately 20 days, after which it would be sent to the censor board for certification.

The petition was filed after the petitioner saw a trailer of the movie on the Internet. The court asked the director and the production company Macneill Engineering Studios not to release any further material related to the movie on the Internet. “We want to ensure that the accused Peter Mukerjea is not deprived of a fair opportunity to put forth his case before this court,” said the court.

In the film, Mahima Chaudhary plays the role of Indrani Mukerjea and Riya Sen will be seen as the victim and Indrani’s daughter Sheena Bora. The bench has posted the petition for hearing after two weeks and asked the respondents to file their reply affidavits.