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The Delhi High Court today directed the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to decide the representation by a petitioner seeking to withhold the release of the movie “The Conversion” and to remove its trailer till it is reviewed/scrutinized and censored on allegations of portraying communal content.

The order was passed by the division bench of Chief Justice DN Patel and Justice Jyoti Singh on a petition filed by the All India Practising Lawyers Council through advocates Adil Sharfuddin and Ubaid Ul Hasan alleging that the movie sensitively explores the dilemma of religious conversions that happens during love marriages in India.

While hearing the petition, the court asked the counsel Adil Sharfuddin for petitioner, "Have you seen the movie? Or have you just seen the trailer of the movie... everybody may not be provoked. People are not even provoked after 10 sentences..In this country there is a big population and we cannot issue notice only on your provocation."

On query whether a representation had been made to the concerned authorities, Sharfuddin stated that a representation was made before the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and also to Youtube for taking down the movie, however no response had been received by the petitioners till date.

Accordingly, the court disposed of the petition with a direction to the concerned ministry to decide representation of the petitioner.

The petitioner council has submitted that on August 12, 2021, an official trailer of the movie was released on YouTube on Nostrum Entertainment hub on its YouTube channel. The said YouTube channel has more than 39,000 subscribers and the official trailer has 31 lakh views from the date of release till present.

It has been alleged that the trailer of the Movie specifically depicts the biased and communal content in the movie in question. It has also been submitted that the trailer indicates that the movie has the potential of communal polarization amidst the upcoming Uttar Pradesh Elections since the background of the movie has been set out in Benaras, Uttar Pradesh.

The petitioners have submitted that the video of the trailer has received 7300 comments and an analysis of the comments reveals that they are appreciative of the trailer and already catalyzing Hindu sentiments in a negative manner.

Case Title: All India Practising Lawyers Council vs UOI