Close, Don't Bolt Doors, But National Anthem Must At Cinemas: Supreme Court

New Delhi: The national anthem remains compulsory in all cinemas, the Supreme Court said today, while tweaking its earlier order to state that the theatre's doors should remain closed, but not bolted, till the play-out ends. People with disabilities in the audience do not need to stand up, the judges said, clarifying the verdict they delivered last week.

Last week, the top court said that before any movie, the national flag must appear on the screen and the audience must rise for the national anthem. Doors should remain closed, the court said, to prevent people from converting the anthem play-out to a break and wandering out. Legal experts like former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee described the order as a case of over-reach. Critics also asked how the verdict will be enforced, and pointed out the safety hazard of ordering the shutting of exits. Many pointed out that the top court has banned the locking of theatre doors after the fire at Delhi's Uphaar Cinema killed 59 people in 1997.

Justice Dipak Mishra, who delivered the verdict, had said that the ritual of including the national anthem would serve in propagating "constitutional patriotism."

The petitioner in the case had in 2003 moved the Madhya Pradesh High Court objecting to what he called the "commercial use of the national anthem" in the Karan Johar film Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham.

At that time, Justice Dipak Misra was heading the High Court bench that heard the case and had ordered that the film shall not be shown in any theatre unless the scene was deleted.