Apex court to examine petition making playing of national anthem mandatory in theatres

The apex court has agreed to examine a plea, whether playing of the National Anthem should be made mandatory at theatres, ahead of screening of any movie.  A PIL was filed by one Shyam Narayan Chouksey, also sought court’s direction to the government to frame regulations to ensure respect and dignity to the National Anthem . The lawyer of the petitioner asked the  bench headed by Justce Dipak Misra to issue directions that no abridged version of the National Anthem shall be sung at any point of time.

He further said, the national anthem should not be used for commercial purposes or for entertainment purposes. Also the petitioner suggested that it should not be sung before those, who don’t understand.  The petitioner also pleaded that the  National Anthem should be played in the cinema theatres across the country before the feature film. The court asked the government to reply on the practicability.

Amidst the raging debate on nationalism, the BJP-led central government has recently released a fresh set of guidelines to maintain sanctity of the national anthem and national emblem. The Ministry of Home Affairs has asked the  state governments and other law enforcement agencies to initiate action against those, found disrespecting the National Anthem and the state emblem.