Supreme Court to recall order making national anthem compulsory in theatres

Supreme Court to recall order making national anthem compulsory in theatres

The Central government requested the Supreme Court on Monday to recall its order that made playing of the National Anthem compulsory in cinema halls.

The affidavit, submitted by the Ministry of Home Affairs, apprised the Court of setting up an Inter-Ministerial Committee to frame new guidelines on playing of the National Anthem after considering “wide ranging issues.”

“Upon consideration of the recommendations made by the Committee, the government may bring out the requisite notification or circular or rules in this regard, if required,” said the affidavit, giving a timeline of six months for the panel to submit its recommendations.

It added: “This Hon’ble Court may consider the restoration of status quo ante until then, i.e. restoration of the position as it stood before the order passed by this Court on November 30, 2016 with regard to direction ‘d’ in the said order, to the extent it mandates the playing of the National Anthem in all cinema halls before the feature film starts”

Notably, direction (d) issued by the top court in its order on November 30 stated: “All the cinema halls in India shall play the National Anthem before the feature film starts and all present in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the National Anthem.”

The government has now told the Court that pending the recommendations by the Committee, this direction could be suspended. 

The matter is scheduled for hearing on Tuesday.

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The Attorney General for India has so far staunchly opposed any prayer for recall of the court order, stating that the directions will help inculcate values and cohesiveness among Indians. 

But in the last hearing in October, the Court had rebutted the AG, saying values are inculcated in various ways but not by mandates of courts. Hinting at recalling its 2016 order, the Court had further observed that it is not required of an individual to wear patriotism on their sleeve all the time, and that not playing the national anthem in cinema halls won’t make people anti-national.