The decks were cleared for the release of the Bollywood movie "Ya Rab" Friday after its producers told the Bombay High Court that certain objectionable scenes and dialogues have been deleted.
The Jamiat Ulama-e-Maharashtra (JUeM) had filed a public interest litigation before the court Wednesday challenging the release of the movie on grounds that it portrayed madrassas as schools of terror.
The matter came up before a division bench of Chief Justice Mohit Shah and Justice M. S. Sanklecha Thursday, said petitioner and JUeM spokesman Gulzar Azmi.
At the hearing, counsel for the movie producers informed the court that the objectionable portions have been replaced and hence there is no material at present calling for a stay on the release.
Accordingly, the court declined to grant a stay on the release of the film.
However, the matter has been adjourned till Feb 13 to enable the JUeM approach the court afresh after suitably amending the petition if any objectionable material is found in the movie, said Azmi.
Besides the depiction of madrassas as schools of terror, the JUeM questioned the portrayal of madrassa 'aalims' (teachers) allegedly brainwashing their students to prepare them for Jihadi activities, Azmi had said in the petition.
He said are upset by this "blatant, fictitious and wrongful depiction of 'madrassas' and the teachers" who impart teachings to the Muslim students there.
"In fact, a 'madrassa' not only imparts quality education, but also gives shelter to orphans. They are not centres of any such anti-national activity. There are no incidents anywhere in the state where any terror act or anti-national activities are associated with a madrassa," Azmi argued.
"The exhibition of such gross untruths on the big screen can create general disturbances and also lead to communal disharmony," he maintained.
His lawyer Ansar Tamboli said that the censor board has already rejected the film by not issuing it a certificate for exhibition. Later, the film-makers went to the review board where it was rejected.
"It was only after they appealed to the Film Certificate Appellate Tribunal that they finally secured permission to release the movie with a U/A certificate. But we shall oppose the release in the present form," said Tamboli.
Directed by Hasnain Hyderabadwala, "Ya Rab" is being promoted and released through veteran film personality Mahesh Bhatt's company, Vishesh Films.