The Bombay High Court faced a procedural hiccup on Wednesday regarding the release of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificate for the Hindi film Emergency, starring Kangana Ranaut. The court refrained from directing the CBFC to release the certificate to the film’s co-producers due to a conflicting order from the Madhya Pradesh High Court.
On September 3, the Madhya Pradesh High Court issued an order instructing Sikh groups, who had raised objections against the film, to submit their grievances regarding the movie and its trailer to the CBFC within three days. The CBFC was then directed to address these objections promptly.
The Bombay High Court’s division bench, comprised of Justices B. P. Colabawalla and Firdosh P. Pooniwalla, acknowledged the Madhya Pradesh High Court’s directive and instructed the CBFC to review the objections and make a decision by September 18. The bench explained that any directive to release the certificate before considering the objections would contravene the order from another High Court, which judicial propriety demands be avoided.
“If we were to direct CBFC to release the certificate without considering objections, we would effectively be directing CBFC to breach the order of another HC,” the bench stated in its order. The court also remarked that if the release of the film were delayed by a week, it would not significantly impact the film’s release. The judges indicated that they would have directed the certificate’s release immediately if the Madhya Pradesh High Court order were not in place.
The dispute stems from a petition filed by Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd., which alleged that the CBFC was illegally and arbitrarily withholding the certificate for the film, initially scheduled for release on September 6. According to the petition, Ranaut’s Manikarnika Films applied for certification on July 8, received a U/A certificate on August 8 after making necessary modifications, and was subsequently informed on August 29 that the film’s CD was sealed and a certification number was generated.
However, despite receiving confirmation of the certificate’s issuance, the co-producers were unable to collect the signed certificate from the CBFC office when they arrived. This led to the current legal battle over the film’s certification and release.