Film producer Prakash Jha today moved the Supreme Court seeking its direction to lift the ban imposed on the release of his film 'Aarakshan' in Punjab, Uttar Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh.
Counsel for Jha mentioned the petition before a bench headed by Justice Altamas Kabir seeking urgent hearing of his plea as the film is scheduled to hit the screens today.
The bench accepted his plea and decided to hear the matter at 2 p.m. today.
After Uttar Pradesh, the release of the film was banned in Punjab and Andhra Pradesh yesterday over certain controversial scenes and dialogues, which the director said he is ready to delete.
The UP government had on August 10 banned the film for two months citing law and order problem.
The ban imposed by Punjab government will be in force till a screening committee constituted by it previews the movie and submits its report. The government feared that some scenes and dialogues in the film may trigger trouble.
Hours after the ban in Punjab was announced, the Andhra Pradesh government decided to suspend the exhibition of the film initially for a period of one week, or till a final decision is taken on the report of the Committee constituted for the purpose, whichever is earlier.
The AP government cited the likelihood of the film hurting the feelings of weaker sections that could lead to protests and agitations and breach of the peace and tranquillity in the State for suspending the film for a week.