Playing The National Anthem In Cinema Halls Is No Longer Mandatory

The Supreme Court, on 30 November 2016 passed the law that mandated that the National Anthem be played before every movie commences, for “the love of the motherland”. This law was not very well timed as it was preceded by an incident in October 2016 when award-winning writer and disability campaigner Salil Chaturvedi, who suffers from a spinal injury could not rise to his feet, and was brutally assaulted by a couple standing in the aisle above him at a cinema hall in Goa.

To their credit, the Supreme Court has made amends to their attempt to inculcate a false sense of patriotism amongst cinegoers by abolishing this law on 9 January. Here’s what the court now states - “People do not need to stand up at a cinema hall to be perceived as patriotic. It cannot be assumed that if a person does not stand up for national anthem, then he/she is less patriotic.”

For the Supreme Court to overturn its previous order is no small matter and to put things into perspective, here’s another unpleasant incident that now has lawful protection courtesy this new law. A group comprising of 9 men and women attended a movie theatre in Ekattuthangal, Chennai and decided not to stand for the national anthem, on account of principle. This group of ideologists was confronted by several men and were subjected to verbal abuse, followed by violence. Such agitation cannot must not go unpunished and this law will ensure that. Although the new law exempts the disabled community, it also states that in case a cinema hall decides to play the national anthem, it is still the duty of every citizen to stand up.

A day before the law was passed, the Centre filed an affidavit claiming it had set-up a committee to decide under what circumstances the national anthem can be played. The committee comprises of representatives of law, defence, home, external affairs, culture, women and child development, I&B, parliamentary affairs, minorities, education and disability ministries to look into the matter.

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