New Delhi: A criminal complaint and a civil
defamation suit has been filed against the makers of
critically-acclaimed Bollywood movie 'Newton' in a court here
for allegedly portraying the Central Reserve Police Force in
poor light.
'Newton', starring Raj Kumar Rao in lead role, deals with
the story of a government clerk who was sent for poll duty in
Naxal-hit area of Chhattisgarh. It was India's official entry
for the Oscars' Best Foreign Language Film category last year.
The defamation suit and the complaint have been filed
before Additional Chief Metropolitan Magistrate Amit Arora
seeking direction to Manish Mundra, producer of the movie, and
Shiladitya Bora, the CEO of production company Drishyam Films,
to tender unconditional public apology and compensate the
complainant, a soldier, and the CRPF.
The matters are now posted for hearing on March 1.
The criminal defamation complaint has sought deletion of
scenes allegedly portraying CRPF in bad light from the film
and its re-release.
The civil and criminal cases have been filed by CRPF
sub-Inspector Tamal Sanyal.
Sanyal alleged that false and baseless imputations were
made by the makers with the "sole malafide intention to injure
and harm the image of a prime central paramilitary force of
the country."
"The accused persons number 1 (Mundra) and 2 (Bora) have
shown the CRPF as a villain and an impediment for holding free
and fair elections in India which is the largest democracy in
the world, which is not only malicious, vexatious and false,
but also casts a shadow of doubt over the whole electoral
process of India... in which the central paramilitary forces,
especially the CRPF play a pivotal role," the complaints said.
The complainant has also made the chairman of Central
Board of Film Certification a respondent in the cases.
The complainant accused the makers of the movie of
"maliciously, intentionally, knowingly, vexatiously and
baseless showing the complainant, his organisation [CRPF] and
its family members in a bad light".
It has alleged that the movie lowered the image and
reputation of the CRPF, its members and their families, in the
eyes of their friends and relatives and the public at large.
PTI
