Delhi High Court On Faraaz: The Delhi High Court on Thursday refused to stay the release of ‘Faraj’, a film based on the 2016 terror attacks in Dhaka. The mothers of the two victims approached the High Court challenging the release of the film, demanding a ban.
The film, directed by Hansal Mehta, is scheduled to release on February 3. A division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh had directed the filmmakers to ‘seriously follow’ the disclaimers presented in the film. It has been said in the disclaimer that the film is inspired by a true incident but the elements contained in it are completely fictional.
The High Court had issued notice on January 24 and directed the director and producers of the film to file a reply on a petition. This bench had said to file the reply in five days. During the last hearing, senior advocate Akhil Sibal, appearing for the mothers, informed the court that filmmaker Mehta and the producers have not allowed them to watch the film before its release. He had said, ‘He has completely denied it.’
Sibal had argued that he had asked the filmmakers to change the name of the film, but they did not agree. He said, we do not know which names have been used in the film. In 2021, he assured us that the names of the two victim girls would not be taken. On this, the court had asked that what is its relation with the name of the film? Sibal had said that this is the name of the person who was the victim of the attack.
Earlier, the bench had said that the filmmaker should first analyze the stand taken by Urdu poet Ahmed Faraj. The court had said, if you are naming the film ‘Faraj’, then you should know what Ahmed Faraj stood for. If you are sensitive to a mother’s feelings, talk to her.
However, advocate Sheel Trehan, representing Mehta, argued that he did not want to set an example of allowing films to be seen before their release. Mehta’s lawyer said, “All the information is already in the public domain.” Sibal had argued on this, public domain and public record are two different things. Sibal opposed Trehan and said, what is the matter? The mothers will have to live again with the trauma.
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