Delhi HC declines plea seeking removal of objectionable scenes from Sunny Deol film
The Delhi high court on Wednesday declined to entertain a petition seeking the removal of allegedly objectionable scenes and dialogues from Sunny Deol-starrer Suryaa: Ant Se Aarambh Takk.
The petition filed by Nachiketa Bhatia, Vice President of the Legal Cell for All India Doctors and Dhruv Chauhan, medical professional serving as the National Spokesperson of the Indian Medical Association (IMA), specifically objected to scenes allegedly depicting widespread corruption and unethical practices in healthcare establishments, as well as those portraying physical violence against doctors, nursing staff and other healthcare professionals as justified or heroic conduct, released in the movie’s teaser.
A bench of acting chief justice Nitin Sambre and justice Sanjay Sharma observed that a similar petition had already been filed on behalf of the medical fraternity and was pending consideration before a single-judge bench.
The court, therefore, said there was no justification for initiating parallel proceedings on the same issue.
“We see no reason to entertain the PIL, as the issue has already been looked into at the behest of the doctor fraternity. Once the issue is looked into another court, we see no reason to have multiplicity of the proceedings,” the court said in the order.
To be sure, justice Amit Mahajan on Monday had issued notice in a petition filed by four doctors seeking removal of the movie’s teaser and fixed November 16 as the next date of hearing.
This came after the Centre’s counsel, Nishant Gautam, apprised the court of the pending petition and informed it that the process of granting certification to the film was still underway.
In his petition, Bhatia contended that the film’s official teaser features dialogues alleging financial exploitation of patients through excessive billing, unnecessary diagnostic tests and commission-driven prescriptions. He further submitted that the teaser portrays medical practitioners associated with the organisation depicted in the film as exploiting patients through inflated bills, unnecessary investigations and prescriptions allegedly influenced by commissions.
“These expressions lend an apparent claim of factual authenticity to the narrative and suggest that the alleged practices depicted in the film reflect broader realities of the healthcare system, rather than misconduct confined to particular individuals or institutions. That the aforesaid promotional statements, when read together with the allegations of excessive billing, unnecessary diagnostic tests and commission- based prescriptions, may create an impression of systemic corruption within the medical profession,” the petition said.
It added that such portrayal, when considered alongside the alleged glorification of violence against healthcare professionals, warrants examination by the competent statutory authorities, particularly in view of its potential implications for public confidence in healthcare institutions and the safety of medical personnel.
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