India's Supreme Court has reversed its previous order that the national anthem must be played in every cinema before a film is screened. The court gave the order on Tuesday in response to the government's request to reconsider its ruling.
Many say the ruling Hindu nationalist BJP has changed its stand on the issue. It had called the court's 2016 order a ‘fantastic move’ at the time. But the order was challenged by a film club in the southern state of Kerala.
The film club had argued that forcing people to play the national anthem and stand while it was being played ‘infringes fundamental rights’, and talked about the false equivalence between an ‘outward show of respect’ and an ‘actual sentiment of respect’.
During its hearing into the petition, the court in October asked the government to decide whether standing for the national anthem in movie halls was mandatory. In its response on Monday, the government said it had formed a panel to decide on the issue and asked the court to reverse its ruling until a decision was made. Both the court ruling and the government stand are making waves on social media. Many are criticising the BJP for reversing its previous stance.
In the 1960s and 1970s, cinemas regularly played the anthem but the practice gradually declined. Prior to the 2016 Supreme Court ruling, there was no uniform law in India regarding the anthem and the 29 states had their own laws on the issue.
The order, made in response to a petition by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, a 77-year-old resident of Bhopal, had said the anthem must be played in all cinemas, accompanied by an image of the Indian flag.
The ruling sparked concern that people could be targeted for not ‘respecting’ the national anthem:
- In October the BBC carried an article by a disabled man who described how he had been assaulted for not standing up for the anthem in a cinema.
- Last year, a group of people were thrown out of a cinema hall for not standing for the national anthem.
- In 2014, a man was beaten by a mob in Mumbai after his South African friend refused to stand for the national anthem.
- Also in 2014, a man in the southern state of Kerala was charged with sedition for refusing to stand for the anthem.
Source: BBC
