Legal hurdle in HC against ‘Accidental PM’ goes; PIL in SC now

Chandigarh/New Delhi, Jan 9 

Two days before its release, a legal hurdle against the release of “The Accidental Prime Minister” was on Wednesday removed with the withdrawal of a PIL filed before the Punjab and Haryana High Court.

As the petition came up for hearing, Additional Solicitor-General of India Satya Pal Jain told the Division Bench of Chief Justice Krishna Murari and Justice Arun Palli that such issues had been raised earlier too in different courts. Rather, similar petitions filed before the Delhi High Court had already been dismissed, he said.

The Bench, during the course of hearing, asked in a lighter vein why they were being deprived of an opportunity to watch the film? The petitioner, Anumit Singh Sodhi, is the son of Guru Harsahai MLA Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi.

Meanwhile, the controversy surrounding the Anupam Kher-starrer film reached the Supreme Court with a petition being filed against the Delhi High Court’s order dismissing a petition seeking ban on it. The movie, in which Kher plays former Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, is based on a book by Singh’s former media adviser Sanjaya Baru. 

The petition has challenged the high court’s order dismissing the PIL seeking a ban on the film and its trailer on the grounds that it defamed the constitutional post of Prime Minister.

A Division Bench of the high court dismissed the PIL earlier in the day, saying the petitioner had no locus standi to file it and that private interest was involved in it. Petitioner Pooja Mahajan has sought a stay on the film contending  that “it will cause unaccountable damage to the name and fame of the office of Prime Minster of India.” — TNS