Freedom of expression is for all: Madras High Court on Mersal controversy

The Madras High Court said that Mersal is only a film and not real life

Chennai: Freedom of expression is for all, the Madras High Court on Friday said while hearing a plea seeking to revoke the censor certificate for 'Mersal'. The court said that the Vijay-starrer Tamil movie is only a film and not real life. 

The petitioner had argued that the censor certificate of the film should be revoked as the movie was full of "wrong propaganda about India and fake dialogues and scenes which obviously leads to the misconception about the new taxation system of India and the Goods and Service Tax Act, 2017 to the viewers."

"No picture shall be certified for public exhibition which will lower the moral standards of those who see it and the prevailing laws shall not be so ridiculed as to create sympathy for violation of such laws," he had argued.

The petitioner had also sought an interim stay on the screening of the movie which released on October 18. 

The controversy erupted after the Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Tamil Nadu unit took exception to references about the GST in the movie. The party said that there were "untruths" regarding the GST that have been shown in the film.

Tamil Nadu BJP chief Tamilisai Soundararajan had demanded removal of the dialogues relating to GST, digital payments and temples from the movie as they allegedly spread a wrong message.

She also wondered whether Vijay had asked his fans to distribute milk to poor children instead of pouring it on his cutouts erected outside the theatres.

To prove his point, BJP leader H Raja had dragged Vijay's religion and tweeted a picture of the Tamil actor's voter ID card showing his full name as Joseph Vijay with a caption – "Truth is bitter".

Meanwhile, Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi and senior party leader P Chidambaram had hit out at the BJP for demanding cuts in "Mersal".