New Delhi: Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai has approached the Supreme Court seeking clubbing and quashing of multiple FIRs registered against her in various states over the poster of her upcoming documentary film that showed goddess Kali smoking a cigarette.
Several FIRs have been registered against her in Delhi, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Uttarakhand. The plea was mentioned before a bench of Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and Justice PS Narasimha for urgent listing. The bench decided to take it up for hearing on January 20.
The poster showed Manimekalai herself dressed as goddess Kali and smoking a cigarette while holding a pride flag. In her plea, she said that her attempt as a creative filmmaker was not to offend the religious sentiment of anyone but to depict the image of a radically inclusive goddess. "My documentary film shows the broadminded traits of the goddess."
Manimekalai sought an ex-parte stay of the criminal proceedings emanating from these FIRs. The filmmaker said the multiple FIRs amount to harassment and an infringement of her right to freedom of speech and expression.
She challenged the proceedings against her in the district courts of Hazratganj in Lucknow, Ratlam, Bhopal, and Indore in Madhya Pradesh, Haridwar in Uttarakhand, and Delhi. She also made the four states respondents in her plea and individual respondents. Her writ petition was filed in December but was registered on January 11.
The filmmaker has faced death threats and open calls for beheading over the poster.