SC to hear plea against CBFC certification of The Kerala Story, Qurban Ali says “our stand vindicated”

The Supreme Court has listed the plea against the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certification of the controversial film 'The Kerala Story' on July 2. Petitioner Qurban Ali said that he is thankful to the Supreme Court for hearing the Special leave petition.

"Now the honourable court will watch this movie (The Kerala Story) regarding the challenge to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certification. The Court said it would be listed after summer vacations as the Court would first have to see the movie for that," said the petitioner.

"The challenge to the final judgement of the Madras High Court challenging the CBFC certification, we will list after vacations. We will have to see the film for that. We will do that," said the SC bench.

Qurban Ali said that the demand for a disclaimer in the movie was also accepted by the court. "During the hearing, the bench also questioned the claim made by the film that 32,000 women from Kerala have been deceitfully converted into Islam."

Senior Advocate Harish Salve, appearing for the film producer, agreed to clarify in the disclaimer that "there is no authentic data available to back up the suggestion that the figure of conversions is 32,000 or any other established figure". He said the disclaimer will be added to the movie by 5 pm on May 20. This is to clarify that the film represents a fictionalised version of the subject matter.

The Supreme Court bench also questioned the figure '32,000'. CJI DY Chandrachud asked Salve about the number and called it a "distorted figure". Salve said that the film disclaimer will clarify that there is no authentic figure available in the matter.