SC rejects plea to ban Da Vinci Code

NEW DELHI: The supreme Court, on Monday declined a ban on the film The Da Vinci Code, which has been at the centre of a controversy due to its depiction of Jesus Christ, on the ground that it hurts the religious sentiments of Christians in the country.

Rejecting the petitions filed by the All India Christian Welfare Association and a Delhi-based person claiming to be a member of the Cathedral Church, a vacation bench comprising Justices Arijit Pasayat and Altamas Kabir questioned the maintainability of the petitions “when the Censor Board and the government had cleared the screening of the film”.

The bench even enquired from the petitioners as to how many countries professing Christianity had banned the film. This was met with silence from the counsel representing the petitioners.

The court also asked the petitioners why they were against the film when the book on which it was based, was a work of fiction.
“You (petitioners) yourself accept that it is fiction and not fact, then there should not be any objection,” the bench observed and also did not take into account the submission that five states in the country had already banned the screening of the film.
The court expressed its surprise that the book The Da Vinci Code by Dan Brown, on which the film is based, was published in the year ’03 and the opposition to it came after over three years.

The Da Vinci Code has evoked protests from the Christian community due to its storyline, which shows Jesus Christ as having married Mary Magdalene and fathering a child by her. Ahead of the release of the film in the country, the government had got representatives of the Church to preview the film and clear it for screening.

After the Church gave the go-ahead, the Censor Board decided to release the film, but directed its producers, Sony Pictures, to insert a disclaimer saying that it is a work of fiction. Sony Pictures, however, went ahead and released the film sans the disclaimer.