Acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions, the top court also stated that that everyone present in the cinema halls must rise and pay respect to the national anthem.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday ordered that the national anthem be played in all cinema halls across the country, before the movie is played, accompanied by national flag on screen. Acting on a public interest litigation (PIL) seeking directions, the top court also stated that that everyone present in the cinema halls must rise and pay respect to the national anthem.
The PIL was filed by Shyam Narayan Chouksey, who had sought directions that the national anthem be played in cinema halls across the country before a film begins and proper norms and protocol be fixed regarding playing and singing it at official functions and at programmes where constitutional dignitaries are present. The plea had also cited instances where the anthem was allegedly abused, including one in which the anthem was played in entertainment shows in order to "dramatise the whole thing".
The Centre has agreed to circulate the order to all states' Chief Secretaries and also to publish it on electronic and print media. But while a few people do seem to be welcoming the decision, the general public are not happy about the order. Indeed, Twitter is in an uproar over the nature of "imposed nationalism" surrounding the order. "Nationalism is not about standing up just for the national anthem," said Twitter user and prominent management guru Suhel Seth. "It's about standing up for what's good for the nation. Tokenism is passé."
"National anthem, followed by item songs in cinema halls. Is this the proper way of respecting the national anthem?" asked Durai Singam on Twitter. Another user going the handle @DOCTORATLARGE added "Our courts can best prove their patriotism by giving fast and efficient justice instead of giving judgments on the playing national anthem."
Sapan Verma @sapanv
SC: Play National Anthem before all comedy shows.
*crowd stands up* *comedian takes a photo*
Comedian: "Standing ovation last night
Absinthe Minded @MinstrelofSound
The #NationalAnthem should play every time an ATM runs out of cash.
Oldtimer @auldtimer
The utter ridiculousness of rising up for national anthem before proceeding to watch semi-naked people gyrate suggestively.
sjoseph @sjoseph100
The day is not far when it'll be mandatory to sing national anthem before coitus!!
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