'Article 15' screening stopped in Roorkee

The screening of Bollywood film "Article 15", which deals with casteism, has been stopped at a Roorkee cinema hall in Uttarakhand's Haridwar district over law-and-order concerns, an official said on Tuesday.

Roorkee sub-divisional magistrate Ravindra Singh Bisht said the cinema hall management was asked to not screen the film after fringe outfits like the Hindu Sena and Bhim Sena approached the administration over the last two days alleging that the movie had "maligned" a particular community.

"It's just an interim order issued due to law-and-order concerns as protesters in Haridwar (town) had forcibly stalled screening of the film there," Bisht told PTI. "The restriction is temporary in nature and will be lifted if the situation remains normal."
"We have no authority to ban the film as the Central Board of Film Certification has cleared it," he said. "But if we perceive a law-and-order problem in the town because of what is being shown in a theatre, we can always stop its screening."