Filmmaker Leena Manimekalai has filed a plea in the Supreme Court seeking protection in the multiple cases registered against her for depicting Goddess Kaali smoking a cigarette in a poster of her documentary titled after the Hindu deity.
The matter was mentioned before a bench headed by Chief Justice D.Y. Chandrachud on Friday. The top court has scheduled the matter for hearing on January 20.
The apex court quashed all the FIRs filed against the filmmaker as a result of the poster for documentary “Kaali”.
The plea contended that the petitioner did not attempt to offend the religious sentiments of any person. The filmmaker claimed that she had also received open calls for violence against her and her family after she tweeted the poster of the documentary.
The petitioner submitted that multiple FIRs amount to infringement of her constitutionally guaranteed fundamental right to freedom of expression.
