kanhaiya-lal-s-wife-seeks-pm-s-help-to-release-the-udaipur-files

The wife of slain Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal Teli has written to Prime Minister Narendra Modi urging his intervention to ensure the release of the film Udaipur Files, which remains stayed by the Delhi High Court.

 

Jashoda, the widow of Kanhaiya Lal, sent the letter on Saturday, saying she wants the Prime Minister to help secure the film’s release so the world can “know the truth” about her husband’s killing.

 

On 10 July, just a day before its scheduled release, the Delhi High Court temporarily halted the film’s release after it was argued that the film’s thematic portrayal amounted to hate speech and vilification of Muslims.

 

In her letter, Jashoda alleged, “The Muslim organisations and their lawyer have stopped the release of the film, on my husband’s murder, through the courts. I have seen the film myself; it is the story of his murder. There is nothing wrong in it. He was killed three years ago and now the lawyer is saying that whatever happened cannot be shown in the film. (My) children are saying that now the Modi government will decide on the film.”

 

Appealing to Modi directly, she wrote, “You know the wrong which was done to us. And now those same people who killed him are going to the courts. I request you to get this film released so that the whole world can know the truth.” She also asked for an opportunity to meet the Prime Minister in person in Delhi, along with her two children.

 

Kanhaiya Lal was hacked to death on 28 June 2022 by Mohammad Riyaz and Ghouse Mohammad, who posed as customers at his shop in Udaipur. He was killed over a social media post he had shared in support of then BJP spokesperson Nupur Sharma, who had been suspended for her controversial remarks about the Prophet during a live television debate.

 

In the Delhi High Court, the stay order was issued following a petition by Maulana Arshad Madani, Principal of the Darul Uloom Deoband. The petitioner argued that the film contained dialogues and scenes that could provoke communal disharmony and potentially reignite tensions.

 

A division bench of Chief Justice D K Upadhyaya and Justice Anish Dayal directed the petitioner to approach the Central government to seek a review of the Central Board of Film Certification’s decision to grant the film a release certificate.