The Bombay high court on Thursday refused to grant interim stay on the release of Bengali movie ‘Dark Chocolate’, which is based on the sensational Sheena Bora murder case, saying that it is too early to seek stay on the release of movie and the court has faith in the Central Board of Film Certification to analyse everything before approving the film for release.
The division bench of Justice S.C. Dharmadhikari and Justice G.S. Kulkarni was hearing a petition filed by Peter Mukerjea, arrested for his alleged role in his stepdaughter Sheena’s murder case.
The bench was of the view that it is too early to seek a stay on the movie. The judges said the movie is not yet ready and will be presented before the CBFC as and when it is ready for release. The bench further observed, “We have complete faith in the CBFC...it works on guidelines. It may analyse the movie and then decide whether to grant certification or not. After the movie is certified for release, you (petitioner) can approach the court again, then we will see if it causes prejudice to you or the trial.”
Peter has challenged the release of the movie on the grounds that it would violate his fundamental right to have a free and just trial. He had requested the court to stay the release of the movie and also sought a direction to the producers to let him see the movie first. In the past the makers of the movie had contended before the court that the film is inspired from material available freely in public domain on the murder.
Director Agnidev Chatterjee had informed the court that shooting of the film is complete and post-production was going on. He had also clarified it would soon be sent to the Censor Board and then be released.
