Delhi HC asks Faraaz makers to settle dispute with mothers who challenged the film’s release

The Delhi High Court on Tuesday asked the director Hansal Mehta and the producers of movie Faraaz to discuss and resolve their disputes with the two victims' mothers, who had moved an appeal challenging the release of the movie based on the 2016 Dhaka terror attacks.

The order was passed by a division bench of Justices Siddharth Mridul and Talwant Singh.

Earlier, a single-judge bench had dismissed the mothers' plea seeking a stop to release of the film, asking her to file an appeal instead.

The division bench said that the filmmaker should first analyse what Urdu poet Ahmad Faraz took a stand for if they have decided to name the movie Faraaz and resolve the issue.

"If you are naming the movie 'Faraaz', then you should know what Ahmad Faraz stood for. If you wish to be sensitive about the sentiments of a mother, then talk to her."

Contending that the producers have been insensitive about the issue, senior advocate Akhil Sibal representing the mothers, said that the deceased's and their family members' privacy should be maintained as it is one of the main aspects.

He argued, "They did not even come to the family. That's been their approach. The learned single judge holds that since the girls are deceased there can be no right to privacy as regards their lives...That cannot be the approach. The question is whether the parents will have the right to privacy in relation to the lives of their daughters."

In response, the bench said that it would not injunct the movie's release because the details are already out in the public.

The bench listed the matter for the next hearing on January 24.

Justice Mridul said, "People like sensational movies. People like movies based on true stories. What can you do?... Not a single holocaust that man has ever experienced hasn't been put on celluloid. What do you do?"

Sibal argued that cases open to the public should be dealt with in a different manner.

Appearing for the defendants, advocate Shyel Trehan told the court that they are ready to take the court's suggestion of resolving the dispute with the mothers.