The issue of refusal by the censor board to allow public viewing of a documentary chronicling the high-voltage 2014 general election campaign for the Varanasi Lok Sabha seat involving Narendra Modi, Arvind Kejriwal and Congress candidate Ajay Rai has reached the Delhi High Court.
Modi won the elections comfortably.
A petition has sought quashing of the April 4 order of the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) and the October 16, 2015 decision of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) refusing to certify the documentary "Battle for Banaras" saying no reasons were given for rejecting their plea for certification.
Also Read
The petition, by the documentary's producers, alleges that the order contains no mention of what parts of the film were objectionable and violated the guidelines of film certification issued under the Cinematograph Act, 1952.
It also alleges that the orders were passed "hastily, arbitrarily and in a pre-meditated manner".
According to the plea, CBFC refused certification on the ground that the film has the potential of causing disharmony, unrest and disturbance in public, which the petitioners term as "baseless, arbitrary and unsubstantiated grounds".
