Army officers move court against 'Lamhaa'

Two army officers approached the Delhi high court on Thursday seeking a stay on the screening of the Bipasha Basu, Sanjay Dutt-starrer Lamhaa on TV channel ‘Colors’. They alleged the movie showed the force in poor light.

The court, however, directed the officers — Colonel Rajiv Mehrotra and Captain Rahul Soni — to approach the censor board, so that it could review its earlier decision of giving the green signal to the movie released in July.

The officers’ lawyer Jyoti Singh, arguing before a division bench of chief justice Deepak Mishra and justice Manmohan Singh, said, “The movie has scenes in which army officers are shown to have a nexus with a terrorist organisation, Pakistani businessmen and ISI, which is demoralising for the entire institution.”

According to the petition, the movie has a scene where army officers make deals for opening borders to permit ingress of terrorists.

Singh said the release of the movie had already damaged the army’s image and its screening on TV could tarnish its reputation. “Television is a medium which reaches every household. If the move is telecast on TV, a much greater damage will occur to the image of the Indian army,” he said.

The court watched the movie in a chamber and asked the army officers make a representation before the censor board on Friday. It also issued a notice to the government, censor board and Colors seeking replies by September 22.