‘Will hear plea after CBFC inspection’

Mumbai: The Bombay high court has said that it will hear the petition filed against the film, Zero, after inspection by the Censor Board of Film Certification (CBFC). According to the petition, Bollywood actor Shah Rukh Khan has hurt the religious sentiments of the Sikh community in the film.

The court on Friday asked the censor board to examine the allegations and points raised in the petition while considering the film for certification. “Let the CBFC examine and carry out scrutiny in the light of the points raised in the petition. We refrain from making any remarks at this stage,” the court said.

A division bench of Justices B.P. Dharmadhikari and S.V. Kotwal was hearing a petition filed by advocate Amritpal Singh Khalsa, claiming that the film’s trailer and poster had hurt the sentiments of the Sikh community.

The petition, filed earlier this month, sought direction to the film’s director and producers to delete the scenes where Shah Rukh is seen wearing a “kirpan” (a sword or small dagger carried by the Sikhs). The petition also sought direction to the CBFC not to grant certification to the film or to revoke it in case the same had already been given.

Senior counsel Narvoze Serwai, appearing for Shah Rukh; producers Gauri Khan and Karuna Badwal; and director Anand L. Rai told the court Friday that the petition was based on an “erroneous assumption”. Advocate Serwai told the court, “What the lead actor is wearing is not a kirpan. It is an ordinary sword.”

The court then sought to know if the film had been granted certification from the censor board. To this, CBFC counsel Advait Sethna said that the same was pending. He further told the court that the poster in question was not part of the trailer submitted by the filmmakers while seeking certification.