The Supreme Court’s decision to modify its 2016 order that made it mandatory for cinema halls across India to play the national anthem before each screening has led to jubliation among members of a 43-year-old film society in Kerala. On Tuesday, the court ruled that it was no longer obligatory to play the national anthem in movie halls.

“The Kodungallur Film Society has been waiting for this day since 2016,” said KJ Rijoy, the society’s secretary. “The Supreme Court order is a huge moral victory.”

The film society, in a small town in Thrissur district, had moved the apex court against its 2016 order a few days after it was passed. Apart from demanding that the order be recalled, the film society’s counsel argued that any decision to make the national anthem compulsory in public places should rest with Parliament, not the judiciary.

Rijoy said: “We decided to file a review petition to recall the order in December 2016, a few days before the commencement of the International Film Festival of Kerala, where more than 60 movies were screened everyday across 12 theatres in Thiruvananthapuram city.”

How it happened

The 280 members of the society meet every Friday evening for a film screening. “We assemble at the rooftop of a building in Kodungallur town after 6 pm to watch internationally acclaimed movies every Friday,” said Rijoy. “It is followed by discussions and debates.”

On December 2, 2016, three days after the Supreme Court order, members of the film society at their regular Friday meeting discussed how the ruling would affect the International Film Festival of Kerala, which was scheduled to start on December 9. They then decided to seek legal opinion and challenge the order.

“Members of the society, which includes medical professionals and daily wage labourers, contributed handsomely to raise funds for this purpose,” said Rijoy.

On December 9 that year, the apex court declined to relax the conditions of its order after an organiser of the international film festival sought an exemption. The court said: “If there are 40 movies running in different shows, you will have to, well, stand 40 times.”

The issue also took a political turn with Sangh Parivar organisations asking acclaimed Malayalam film director Kamal, the chairman of the Kerala Chalachitra Academy that organises the film festival, to go to Pakistan if he did not want to follow the country’s rules. Kamal had objected to police personnel entering festival venues to book people who did not stand up for the national anthem. Kamal is also the patron of the Kodungallur Film Society.

“All of us faced threats from Sangh Parivar organisations after we decided to move court,” said Rijoy. “But today’s verdict gives us a ray of hope.”

Advocate PV Dinesh Kumar, one of the lawyers who represented the film society, hailed Tuesday’s order as encouraging for true nationalists. “It is a commendable order,” he said.

Fate of previous cases

Following the 2016 order, the Kerala Police registered several cases against cinema goers for allegedly disrespecting the national anthem. It arrested six international film festival delegates that year alone following complaints from members of the Bharatiya Janata Yuva Morcha, the youth wing of the Bharatiya Janata Party.

Scroll.in made several calls to Museum Police Station in Thiruvananthapuram, where these cases are filed, to get a status report. But police officials said that they needed time to check the files.

One festival goer arrested in 2016 told Scroll.in on condition of anonymity that the case against him had been withdrawn for want of evidence. “I got a reply from the Museum Police Station after I filed a Right to Information application,” he said.

Rijoy was of the opinion that all cases registered during the festival will have to be withdrawn. “Police do not have any evidence to prove the charges,” he said. “Moreover, a case under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act was not filed since the Kerala Chalachitra Academy, the organisers of the festival, did not file any complaint.”