Supreme Court clarifies the stance on airing of the National Anthem in movie theatres

In November 2016, the Supreme Court had mandated all cinema halls to play the national anthem at the beginning of every movie, accompanied with an image of the tricolour on the silver screen. The verdict was received with mixed reactions by both the general audience and the film industry. Following this mandate, one of the petitioners asked the apex court to clarify if people need to stand up, in the case of National anthem being played in between or during the movie.

The Judgement on this confusion was delivered earlier today by Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi and read:

“It is clarified that when the National Anthem is played as part of the storyline of a film, newsreel or a documentary the audience need not stand,” 

However, it is still mandatory to stand when the national anthem plays before screening of a film. On this continuance, the bench said :

“time has come when citizens must realise they live in a nation and are duty-bound to show respect to National Anthem, which is a symbol of constitutional patriotism and inherent national quality.” 

Further hearing of the questions raised by petitioners regarding this topic will happen on April 18, 2017.