No class can be insulted with such a title, Supreme Court expressed displeasure on ‘Ghushkhor Pandit’

New Delhi, 12 February. Expressing displeasure over the title ‘Ghushkhor Pandit’, the Supreme Court on Thursday told filmmaker Neeraj Pandey that you cannot insult any section of the society by using such a title. The Supreme Court made this comment during the hearing of a petition requesting to ban the release of the Manoj Bajpayee starrer on OTT platform Netflix.

A bench of Justices BV Nagarathna and Ujjal Bhuyan issued notice to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Central Board of Film Certification and Pandey on the petition filed against the film. The bench said, “Why are you insulting a section of the society by using such a title? It is against morality and public order. Unless you tell us the changed title, we will not allow you to release the film.” The court directed Pandey to file an affidavit that the film ‘Ghushkhor Pandat’ does not insult any section of the society.

Further hearing in this case will be held on February 19. The petition alleges that the film promotes caste and religion-based stereotyping and is a threat to public order, communal harmony and constitutional values. Produced by filmmaker Neeraj Pandey, ‘Ghooskhor Pandat’ was announced by Netflix during a recent event in Mumbai. Nusrat Bharucha, Divya Dutta, Saqib Saleem and Akshay Oberoi are acting along with Manoj Bajpayee in the film.

National Organization Secretary of ‘Brahmin Samaj of India’ Atul Mishra has filed a PIL in which the court has been requested to direct to ban the release of the film on Netflix. The petition alleged that the title and plot of the film are prima facie objectionable and derogatory and they portray the Brahmin community in a derogatory manner. In the PIL, objection has been raised to the use of the word ‘Pandat’ along with the word ‘Ghushkhor’.