Kathmandu: A high court of Nepal on Tuesday ruled that Mayor of Kathmandu city, Balen Shah, does not hold rights to stop screening Indian movies.
The Kathmandu Mayor does not hold any legal rights or authority to stop screening Indian movies in the cinema hall, the Patan High Court on Tuesday said after hearing a petition against the mayor’s call to stop screening Indian movies in the cinema hall inside Kathmandu. On June 22, the same court had issued a temporary injunction to lift the ban on the South Indian film ‘Adipurush.’
The Film Association had taken their case to the Patan High Court, challenging Balen Shah’s decision that he will not allow screening of Hindi movies in Kathmandu. Mayor Shah has been protesting over some of the dialogue of film Adipurush. Until the filmmakers do not correct the fact that Sita was born in Nepal, Mayor Shah has challenged that he will not allow screwing the Indian movies in Kathmandu’s cinema halls.
After Patan High Court ordered the screening of the Hindi movies, Mayor Shah announced on social media that he will not obey the order given by Patan High Court. The film association said that they contended that a blanket ban on screening all Hindi films based on ‘Adipurush’ was unjustifiable. Seeking permission to continue their business operations, the association received a favourable ruling from the court.
Some of the local government act and other contemporary Nepali laws, it is not a jurisdiction of mayor Shah to stop screening the Indian movies, said the verdict released on Tuesday.
Similarly, the Supreme Court of Nepal has ordered a contempt of court case against the Mayor of Kathmandu Metropolitan City Shah.
The single bench of Supreme Court Justice Til Prasad Shrestha ordered to file a contempt of court case against Mayor Shah and ask for a written reply from him.
According to SC spokesperson Bimal Paudel, the apex court has directed to register the case and seek a written reply from the Mayor.
Advocate Barsha Kumari Jha filed a petition in the Supreme Court saying that Shah had deliberately decried the judiciary causing public distrust in the judiciary system itself.
The petition was heard on Tuesday in the bench of Judge Shrestha.
Meanwhile, Mayor Balen Shah denounced the High Court’s judgment and said that he would not obey such decision.
“It is understood that the court and the government are slaves of India.”
I am ready to suffer any punishment but the film will not be allowed to be screened in the Kathmandu Cinemas,” Shah wrote on his social media post.
(IANS)
