Petition on Concocted Portrayal of Kashmiri Muslims in "Shikara"

Jammu:Jammu and Kashmir High Court on Thursday issued notice to the Union of India and the Union Territory in the Public Interest Litigation that sought stay on the release of Hindi Movie ''Shikara'', which would be screened on Friday.

Movie ''Shikara-The Untold Story of Kashmiri Pandits''-is based on exodus of the community in early 90s from the Kashmir valley.A Division Bench of J&K High Court comprising Justice Ali Mohammad Magrey and Justice Dhiraj Singh Thakur issued notice to Union of India and J&K UT in a PIL seeking stay on the release of the  upcoming Hindi movie.

According to the Court sources, the Division Bench while issuing notice observed that petitioners have prayed that the respondents may be directed to withhold the release till it was reviewed and censored by the appropriate authorities to edit and remove the communal, inflammatory and frivolous content from the movie.

The petitioner has also prayed to review the certificate issued to the movie and censor the controversial and communal scenes and dialogues from it and to ensure that all possible steps were taken to prevent polarisation and communalisation of atmosphere in the country, particularly in Jammu and Kashmir.

The Division Bench issued notice to the respondents in the PIL as well as in the connected CM.

Three Kashmir-based activists have filed a petition in the Jammu and Kashmir High Court seeking a stay on the release of upcoming Hindi movie 'Shikara' which is based on the exodus of Kashmiri Pandits from the Valley in 1990.

The petitioners have alleged that the movie, directed by Vidhu Vinod Chopra, contains ''communal content'' and has ''concocted portrayal of Kashmiri Muslims about the migration of Kashmir Pandits on January 19, 1990.''

The three petitioners -- Iftikhar Misgar, Majid Hyderi and Irfan Hafiz Lone -- said that the exodus of the minority Hindu community took place due to many ''unfortunate'' events following an armed rebellion.

''There are many reasons which led to the mass migration of Kashmiri pandits and differences of opinion between different stakeholders exist in this regard,'' the petition read.

The petitioners said the perception was being built that the Kashmiri Muslims were responsible for the incidents leading to the mass migration of Kashmiri Pandits from the valley.

''It can also be safely stated that the other Kashmiris including Kashmiri Muslims and Sikhs tried their best to prevent the Kashmiri Pandits from leaving the Valley'', they said.

''The trailer of the movie clearly points towards the biased and communal content in the movie in question,'' the petition noted.

The petition seeks directions to the respondents, including the producer and director of the movie Vidhu Vinod Chopra, to withhold the release of the movie on February 7 till it was reviewed and censored by appropriate authorities.(UNI)