This may sound little weird to many but this is true to the core. The Supreme Court of India has ruled that playing of a National Anthem is must in all the cinemas in India prior to the screening of the Movie, and it is also Mandatory to remain standing till the National Anthem finishes. Those who do not stand up will get arrested, the court ruled. In one such incident where 20 people had denied to stand up have been beaten by the mob and handed over the to the police.
Based on the information available from the reliable sources, 20 people have been arrested for failing to stand for National Anthem in Cinemas. Out of total twenty arrested, 8 are from Chennai and 12 from Kerala, said the sources. The sources have revealed that the top court of India had ruled that audience must stand while the national anthem playing in the cinemas to provide their due respect to the national flag and it also in the interest of the country.
According to the sources, there are several instances of people getting assaulted for refusing to stand while national anthem going on in the cinemas. The sources said that the incidents of arrests have occurred two weeks after the Supreme Court made it compulsory to respect the national anthem. The Supreme Court ruled on November 30 that cinemas should play the national anthem before every screening and that the audience should stand, drawing angry accusations of an assault on civil liberties.
The sources revealed that 12 people were arrested on Monday at an international film festival in Kerala for failing to observe the order, the police said. They said the film-goers, who have not been identified, had refused to stand after being asked to do so by organizers and police. “They were formally arrested and later released on bail,” said Sparjan Kumar, police chief of the state capital of Thiruvananthapuram.
Mr. Kumar said six out of the 12 had been assaulted after refusing to stand, but that no charges would be brought against the attackers. “We are yet to receive a complaint about the assault. There is no investigation into (that) incident,” he told news agency AFP. Mr. Kumar said the 12 cinema-goers arrested in his state had been charged with various related offenses, including contempt of court.
Before that, on Sunday, eight people were arrested at a cinema in Chennai after being assaulted by a group of 20 men during the interval for allegedly refusing to stand. They were reportedly charged under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act and face up to three years in jail if found guilty. However, According to the sources, the Supreme Court did not specify a penalty for failure to stand, or indicate who was to take charge of monitoring rule-breaking and assigning punishment.
The sources have also said that earlier the playing of the national anthem was only compulsory in Maharashtra but now it is mandatory PAN India. According to the article published in the national media, Indian Express To Instill the “committed patriotism and nationalism”, the Supreme Court Wednesday ordered that “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” as a part of their “sacred obligation”. Discarding notions of “any different notion or the perception of individual rights”, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy added that the movie screen shall have the image of the national flag when the anthem is being played and that doors of the halls will remain shut during the anthem so that no disturbance is caused. “The directions are issued, for love and respect for the motherland is reflected when one shows respect to the National Anthem as well as to the National Flag. That apart, it would instill the feeling within one, a sense committed patriotism and nationalism,” said the bench, giving 10 days for compliance with its direction.
