The Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind has petitioned the Supreme Court to order the Centre and others not to screen or release the film ‘The Kerala Story‘ in theaters, on OTT platforms, or through other means. Additionally, it asks that the movie’s trailer be taken off from the internet.
The movie follows the journey of four female college students in Kerala who join the Islamic State. The prominent roles in the film are played by Adah Sharma, Sonia Balani, Yogita Bihani, and Siddhi Idnani.
According to the plea, the film “demeans the entire Muslim community and will endanger the petitioners’ lives and livelihoods as well as the livelihood of the entire Muslim community, and this is a direct violation of Articles 14 and 21 of the Constitution.”
The movie suggests that “ordinary Muslim youth, their classmates, also play an instrumental role in luring non-Muslims and radicalizing them by posing as friendly and good-natured people, in line with the directives received from extremist scholars.”
The state police looked into the matter and found no proof of love-jihad in Kerala. As a result, Kerala’s opposition UDF and the state’s ruling CPI(M)-led Left both asked that the movie not be shown. The Muslim Youth League state committee has even offered a prize of Rs 1 crore to anyone who can refute the “allegations” made in the film.
The petition also asks the Central Board of Film Certification to mandate that inflammatory sequences and dialogue be removed or that a disclaimer be included indicating that the film is a work of fiction and the characters bear no similarity to any person living or dead.
