Delhi High Court dismisses PIL against 'The Accidental Prime Minister' trailer

A single bench of the Delhi High Court on Monday has dismissed the plea seeking the banning of the trailer of the film The Accidental Prime Minister. 

It has given a go-ahead for the release of the film on January 11 but has given the petitioner the option to file the plea in front of a division bench which is a two-judge bench of the Delhi High Court.

A plea was filed in the Delhi High Court on Saturday seeking direction to the Centre and the censor board to suspend the trailer of the upcoming movie 'The Accidental Prime Minister', alleging that it defames the constitutional post.

The plea filed by Pooja Mahajan alleged that provisions of the Cinematograph Act are being misused and the film producer has released the trailer affecting, harming the image of the office of the prime minister and giving a bad name at the national and international level.

It has arrayed as parties the Centre through the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Central Board of Film Certification, Google (India) and YouTube.

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The petition, filed through advocate A Maitri, claimed that due to the release of the trailer, the "post of prime minister is getting defamed on day-to-day basis in public domain before the public at large".

It said as per reports, the film casts actor Anupam Kher as former prime minister Manmohan Singh, Akshaye Khanna as Sanjaya Baru, Suzanne Bernert as Sonia Gandhi, Arjun Mathur as Rahul Gandhi and Abdul Quadir Amin as Ajay Singh.

READ: Complaint filed against Anupam Kher and makers of 'The Accidental Prime Minister' in Muzaffarpur court, details inside

The plea added that as per the disclaimer in the movie's trailer, it was based on a book written by Sanjaya Baru but the "real facts are totally different. In fact, the disclaimer given in the trailer is untrue, false and fake".

"By performing the character of Manmohan Singh, (ex-PM), Sonia Gandhi, Rahul Gandhi, the performing actors/ artists have committed offences punishable under sections 416 (cheating by impersonation) of the IPC and therefore, the CBFC could not have given the certificate for screening/ exhibition of the film," it said.

"As per the provisions of Cinematograph Act, only such film can be certified/ given certificate if it is not against the interest of sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency or morality or involves defamations or contempt of court or likely to incite the commission of an offence," the petition claimed.