Delhi HC dismisses plea to stay release of film 'Bharat'

The Delhi High Court Monday dismissed a plea that sought a stay on the release of Salman Khan-starrer "Bharat", saying the petition was premature and filed to draw mileage from the movie, which is slated to hit the theatres on June 5.

A vacation bench of justices J R Midha and Chander Shekhar was displeased with the petitioner for approaching the court at the last moment and for circulating the petition in the media before it was listed.

At the outset, the bench watched the trailer of the movie on the petitioner's mobile phone and asked him what was objectionable in it.

"There are so many persons named 'Bharat', so if they are doing anything wrong, should we put all of them behind bars? Should we ban individuals from having the name 'Bharat'?" the bench said.

The petitioner Vikas Tyagi said his objection was that the character 'Bharat', which was played by Salman Khan, was a womaniser.

The court said it was of the view that the petition was filed to draw mileage from it and the plea was premature as the petitioner has not yet seen the movie and the plea was based on a trailer.

The bench, while dismissing the petition, said, "This court does not find merits in the averments of the petitioner. The e-mail sent to media houses showed that intention of the petitioner was to draw mileage from it. This court is of the view that the petition is pre-mature as the petitioner has not yet seen the full movie."