Maharashtra Govt urges Centre to ban screening of film on Prophet Muhammad

New Delhi, July 16: After receiving a complaint from Raza Academy over the movie Muhammad: The Messenger Of God, Maharashtra's Home Minister Anil Deshmukh wrote a letter to Central government urging them to block the screening of the movie which is scheduled for digital release in India on 21 July.

 

 

The complaintant has made serious allegations that the movie will severely hurt the sentiments and will be considered blasphemous by a particular community. It also added that the movie can potentially disturb the religious sentiments of citizens in the country and may cause religious tensions creating law and order problems in the country.

 

Deshmukh has sought the ban on the film under the Information Technology Act to ensure the law and order situation is not affected in the state, said an official statement issued on Wednesday. The home minister states in his letter, "We hereby request you to block/suspend those digital platforms where the movie would be released on the probable date of 21 of July 2020, under section 69A and the blocking rides of the Information Technology Act, 2000 & Information Technology Act (Amendment). 2008.”

 

Further, he added in the letter that the Maharashtra Cyber department, the nodal agency for the state of Maharashtra for cyber matters, has also requested the Senior Director (Scientist – G) Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, to prevent the release of the said movie on OTT platforms. He also demanded that instructions should be issued to prevent the broadcast of the film on digital platforms like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and WhatsApp among others.

 

Earlier, Mumbai based Raza Academy had submitted the complaint to the states cyber cell, seeking a ban on the film's broadcast on digital platforms. It said, “Ever since the news of its release has been published there has been an uproar in the community and we have been receiving hundreds of calls to get the film banned as it is completely blasphemous.”

 

Raza Academy also has said that the movie the film portrays the Holy Prophet as a child and even the Mother and Father of the Holy Prophet have been shown in person. The Holy Prophet of Islam can never be picturized and those who have done it have committed blasphemy which is intolerable at any cost.

 

Muhammad: The Messenger of God is a 2015 Iranian Islamic epic film directed by Majid Majidi and co-written with Kambuzia Partovi. The movie was released in Iran in 2015 and was selected as the Iranian entry for the Best Foreign Language Film category at the 88th Academy Awards.