J-K HC dismisses PIL seeking stay on release of 'Shikara'

Srinagar: The Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Friday dismissed public interest litigation (PIL) seeking a stay on the release of ‘Shikara’, a movie on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990.

A division bench of the high court comprising Justices A M Magray and D S Thakur dismissed the PIL following assurances by the counsels for the Centre and the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir that the release of the movie will not cause any law and order problem.

The petition was filed in the court earlier this week, seeking a stay on the release of Hindi movie ‘Shikara’.

The petition, filed by three social activists, had sought a stay on the release of the movie on the grounds that besides not being based on facts it was communal in nature.

It also sought a review and editing of the objectionable scenes and narrations of the movie which, the petitioners claim, blames the entire Kashmiri population for the exodus of the Kashmiri Pandits from the valley in 1990.

The petitioners had claimed that the trailers of the movie that are being shown on television indicate that the movie has the potential of communal polarization.

“The above said narration and depiction of events is not only concocted and far away from the truth but is also communal in nature,” the plea said.

Majid Hyderi, one of the three petitioners, told PTI that they have not decided yet whether to appeal the high court decision.