agencies
New Delhi, Nov 24: The Delhi High Court Friday dismissed a plea against ‘Padmavati’, observing that such petitions were encouraging those agitating against the movie.
A bench of Acting Chief Justice Gita Mittal and Justice C Hari Shankar termed as “hopeless” and “misconceived” a petition seeking that a committee be set up prior to the release of the movie to check whether there was any distortion of history.
“Have you (counsel for the petitioner) seen the film. Have the people, who are burning cinema halls seen the film? By this kind of petitions, you are encouraging those who are agitating,” the bench observed.
It directed the petitioner, Akhand Rashtrawadi Party, which claims to be a political party, to approach the Censor Board as the court was not inclined to entertain it. The plea said that the committee was necessary as there was alleged distortion of historical facts in the film.
In Jaipur a man was found hanging at the Nahargarh Fort with messages referring to ‘Padmavati’ scribbled on nearby stones, a police official said.
Chetan Kumar Saini, 40, a resident of Shastri Nagar in Jaipur and a handicraft worker, was found hanging from the boundary wall of the fort, DCP North Satyendra Singh said. He said that messages was found scribbled on stones, but it was premature to connect the incident with ‘Padmavati’ protests.
One of the messages read, “Padmavati ka virodh karne walo, hum kile par sirf putle nahi latkate… Hum mein hai dum (Padmavati protesters should know we don’t only hang effigies… we are strong)”.
The body has been sent for post-mortem and an investigation is on, the police said. An outfit representing the Rajput community, said it was not the way to protest. President of Rajput Karni Sena, Mahipal Singh Makrana, said the messages on the stones were written to provoke the outfit.
Many groups have been protesting amid rumours that there was a romantic dream sequence between queen Padmini and Allauddin Khilji. However, Bhansali said in an appeal that there was no dream sequence and that it was a rumour.
Historians are divided on whether Padmini actually existed. She finds mention in the 16th century epic poem “Padmavat”.
