Judges to take a call on Sada Haq

On Friday, a Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice Altamas Kabir, Justice Anil R. Dave and Justice Vikramajit Sen watched the film Sada Haq that has allegedly taken an exalted view of Punjab’s days of extremism before taking a call on the plea by its producers seeking lifting of the ban on its screening in Punjab, Chandigarh and Delhi.

The film that depicts the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, Punjab militancy and the police brutalities was to be released April 5 but was banned a day earlier by the Punjab and Delhi government and the Chandigarh administration.

“It is only if something happens consequent to the screening of the film that the government could intervene to clamp a ban on its screening,” said Colin Gonsalves, senior counsel for Vital Media, the film’s producer. The film had been banned as it posed a threat to peace in the states.