The Kerala High Court delivered a powerful message on judicial decorum Thursday, reprimanding PIL petitioners for targeting judges in their challenge to ‘The Kerala Story 2: Goz Beyond’. The bench of Chief Justice Soumen Sen alongside Justice V.M. Shyam Kumar deemed the remarks a grave affront to the court’s esteem, potentially amounting to contempt.
At the heart of the dispute: social worker K.C. Chandramohan and lawyer Mehnaz P. Mohammad’s plea to block the movie, which they accused of maligning Kerala as a terrorism hotspot on flimsy grounds. They pointed to the negative depiction of numerous Muslim roles as Islamophobic, sidelining the state’s ethos of coexistence, and decried the title as dignity-demeaning under Article 21.
Flashback to late February: A single judge imposed a release stay on the 26th. Producers appealed overnight; Justices S.A. Dharmadhikari and P.V. Balakrishnan revoked it by the 27th, permitting exhibition with the matter sub-judice. The PIL grilled this ‘rush’, citing the unpublished order—a point that drew the bench’s sharpest ire.
‘Judges aren’t fair game for uninformed barbs,’ asserted the Chief Justice, urging Supreme Court remedies over disparagement. The counsel capitulated swiftly, apologizing and committing to purge the impugned content. This ruling reinforces safeguards around judicial independence amid hot-button issues like film censorship and communal narratives.
As theaters roll out the controversial sequel, the incident serves as a cautionary tale for activists navigating courts. It balances free speech defenses with unyielding protection for the judiciary, ensuring debates stay within bounds of respect.