NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court of India today morning stayed a ruling of the Delhi High Court which had yesterday sought to put a stay on the telecast of a film, 13 December made by Zee News to be aired on the news channel today evening. The film takes a look at the attack on Indian Parliament by terrorists exactly a year ago.
A jubilant Laxmi Goel, director, news group, Zee Telefilms, told indiantelevision.com sometime back, "A stay has been obtained on the stay of the High Court. The ruling again shows that the country's apex judicial body is alive and sensitive to the issues of national importance. The ruling also indicates that the Supreme Court supports creative freedom."
This SC verdict means that Zee News can go ahead and telecast the film today evening as scheduled. The Delhi High Court had, on Thursday, barred Zee from airing the film as it did not have the permission of the special court, which is holding the trial in the case. The direction came following a petition filed by four of the accused in the Parliament attack case, pleading the telecast would prejudice their case on which judgment is likely to be announced on 16 December.
Goel, one of the four brothers of Zee promoter Subhash Chandra, said that he still could not undertstand the rationale and real reason which prompted the petitioners to move the High Court seeking a stay on 13 December as the film is a "tribute to the brave soldiers of the country who fought the terrorists in and around Indian Parliament and neutralised a move which could have played havoc in India as it did in the US after the 11 September, 2001 attacks on the World Trade Centre towers."
Zee had moved the Supreme Court, appealing against the Delhi High Court verdict, today morning. 13 December, the film, has a voice over by Bollywood baddie Raza Murad who, according to Goel, has not taken any remuneration for the assignment.
The film goes behind the scenes of and tries to find where the seeds of the dastardly plot were sown. It is an attempt to go back in time and get to the truth. When did the terrorists come to Delhi....how come they went unnoticed in Chandni Chowk...Palika Bazaar and Mukherjee Nagar in the Capital. "All this in 40 minutes of plain speaking," Goel added.
