Udaipur Files: Supreme Court Agrees to Hear Plea Against Delhi HC Stay on Release

Senior Advocate Gaurav Bhatia mentioned the matter before a Bench led by Justice Surya Kant, seeking urgent listing in view of the film’s halted release.

"Theatres were set to screen the film in 12 hours when the Delhi High Court stayed the release," Bhatia submitted.

Justice Kant asked, “Has the release been restrained?”

Upon confirmation, the Court agreed to list the matter for hearing shortly in this week. 

Notably, on July 10, Delhi High Court had halted the release of Udaipur Files until the Centre decides on a revision plea filed under Section 6 of the Cinematograph Act. The petitioners include Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind and journalist Prashant Tandon. Court allowed them to move the government and ordered that the stay would remain in effect until their application is resolved, directing the Centre to decide the matter within a week.

On July 9, 2025, the High Court had directed the producer of Udaipur Files, Amit Jani, to arrange a private screening of the movie and its trailer for all counsel of both parties, after the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) had informed the court that it had mandated 40 to 50 cuts before granting certification.

The High Court had also clarified that the manner in which the case against release had been reported in media was not what truly happened in the hearing before the Supreme Court, with portals reporting that the court had asked for it to be released.

The petitions before the High Court had alleged that the film’s content flagrantly violates Section 5B of the Cinematograph Act and the 1991 Guidelines for Certification of Films for Public Exhibition, both of which prohibit the public exhibition of content likely to incite communal disharmony. Highlighting the two-minute fifty-three-second trailer of the movie, released on June 26, the petitioners contended that it contained highly inflammatory and provocative content.

Stay on the release of the film Udaipur Files had received strong criticism from Kanhaiya Lal’s son, Yash Sahu. The film, which depicts killing of Udaipur’s tailor Kanhaiya Lal, who was stabbed 26 times by two muslim men in June 2022, after Lal showed his support for BJP leader Nupur Sharma’s remarkes on Prophet Mohammed, was stayed by the Delhi High Court on Thursday, just a day ahead of its scheduled release. Reacting to the decision, in an interview with ANI, Yash Sahu questioned the judiciary’s swift intervention in staying the release of Udaipur Files. In a detailed statement, he highlighted that his father’s murder case has seen little progress despite the passage of nearly three years, despite the presence of direct video evidence and multiple eyewitnesses.