SC declines urgent hearing on plea challenging release of Modi biopic

New Delhi, Apr 05: The Supreme Court on Friday declined urgent hearing of an appeal filed against the Bombay High Court order which had refused to interfere with the release of the Vivek Oberoi-starrer 'PM Narendra Modi.'

A fresh petition filed by a Congress national media panel member was mentioned before a bench led by Justice S A Bobde by senior advocate Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Thursday.

Bobde, who is next in line to be the Chief Justice of India, didn't agree to an urgent hearing and said he would deal with it on April 8.

The movie was scheduled to be released throughout the country on April 5. However, producer Sandip Singh tweeted on Thursday: "This is to confirm, our film 'PM Narendra Modi' is not releasing on April 5. Will update soon."

Singhvi argued that the movie would destroy the level playing field in the middle of campaigning season for the Lok Sabha elections.

On Monday, the Bombay High Court disposed of the PIL seeking a stay on the film's release. The court noted that the Election Commission (EC) has already issued a notice to the makers of the film PM Narendra Modi over allegations of breach of the Model Code of Conduct in view of the Lok Sabha elections.

Meanwhile, the EC did not find anything amiss in the movie being released just ahead of the polls, he said. The movie, he claimed, was produced by the BJP's office-bearers and Prasoon Joshi, chairman of the Central Board of Film Certification, is one of the lyricists.