National Anthem

Event

Overview

The NGO through a PIL in the Hon’ble Supreme Court filed a Writ Petition under Article 32 of the Constitution of India praying for the revival of the age old practice of playing the National Anthem at the conclusion of movies in the CinemaTheaters. As there was no representation to the Govt. of India with regard to the above prayer made in the PIL, the Hon’ble Supreme Court vide their orders dated 21-4-2014 and 25-4-2014 directed the NGO to file a representation to the Government in terms of the ‘Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act,1971’.

However, the representation to the Central Government did not evoke any response from the Central Government.

Meanwhile a Writ petition (C) No. 855 of 2016 was filed in the Hon’ble Supreme Court, in which the NGO filed an application for intervention which was taken into consideration by the Hon’ble Supreme Court, pursuant to which the Hon’ble Court asked the NGO to submit their suggestions in regard to the playing of ‘National Anthem’ in Cinema Halls, which have been submitted by the NGO. The relevant portion of the order dated 03.01.2016 of the Hon’ble Supreme Court is as under :

“In view of the aforesaid, we think it appropriate that the Committee should comprehensively look into all the aspects. Mr. K.K. Venugopal, learned Attorney General for India has submitted in the course of argument that the petitioner can give suggestions by way of representation to the Committee. Mr. V.K. Biju and Ms. Nanita Sharma, learned counsel and Mr. Sanjeev Bhatnagar, the applicant in-person can also give suggestion in this regard. When we say suggestions, we mean that suggestions shall only relate to the National Anthem and nothing else”.