The producer of Ranveer Singh-starrer Jayeshbhai Jordaar informed the Delhi High Court on Tuesday that a static warning/disclaimer would be displayed during a scene in the movie depicting use of ultrasound for pre-natal sex determination and other connected scenes.
The development took place during the hearing of a plea filed by NGO Youth Against Crime alleging that a scene in the film’s trailer shows ultrasound technique being used for gender selection of foetuses.
The Division Bench of Justice Navin Chawla and Justice Manoj Kumar Ohri perused the trailer and relevant scenes from the movie.
“Keeping in view that the film has already been certified and is scheduled to be released on May 13, 2022, and the disclaimer that has now been agreed to be shown during the scenes in question, the learned counsel for the petitioner fairly submits that he would not press the petition any further,” noted the Bench.
Filed through Advocate Pawan Prakash Pathak, the petitioner knocked the doors of the Delhi High Court raising an issue in respect of a scene shown in the trailer where the use of ultrasound technology in a clinic is being used to determine the sex of the foetus.
The plea stated that though the film espouses the cause of Save Girl Child, but such a scene where sex determination is being advertised openly without any censor is in violation of the Pre-Conception & Pre-Natal Diagnostic Techniques (PCPNDT) Act, 1994. In light of the above, the plea seeks removal of the scene in question.
During the hearing today, senior counsel Jayant Mehta, representing the makers of the film, submitted that the theme of the movie is to highlight the ills of female foeticide and thereby, depiction of such scenes are important to the movie. He stressed that the alleged scenes, in no manner, promote or advertise use of such techniques; on the contrary, such scene seeks to discourage the use of such technology.
Upon a suggestion made by the Bench to the filmmaker, on perusal of the trailer and the relevant scenes from the movie, to display certain additional disclaimers in the trailer as well as in the movie when the alleged scenes are being showcased, Mehta responded that a static warning/disclaimer would be displayed during running of scenes in question over all formats including theatres, OTT or other platforms. Mehta assured the Bench that the necessary disclaimer would be inserted within a period of one week as the alleged scenes are already in circulation.
Jayeshbhai Jordaar is produced by Yash Raj Films and is now cleared to hit the theatres on May 13 as scheduled.
The Court, on a previous hearing, had asked for a screening of the film to satisfy itself that the disclaimer shown in the movie is legible while remarking that an act like pre-natal sex determination cannot be trivialised.
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