# Supreme Court closes The Kerala Story petitions, leaves legal question open 2026-08-21T15:55:57+00:00 | Governance | Indian Opinion Desk Corroboration: 3 independent outlets The Supreme Court on Friday disposed of petitions challenging the CBFC certification of the 2023 film The Kerala Story, ruling that the pleas had become infructuous as the movie had already been released. A bench led by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, also comprising Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V Mohana, closed two petitions seeking cancellation of the film's certificate. A third petition by the producers, Sunshine Pictures Pvt Ltd and Vipul Amritlal Shah, challenging the West Bengal government's earlier ban on the film, was withdrawn. The top court had stayed that ban in May 2023. Advocate Nizam Pasha, representing petitioners Qurban Ali and B R Aravindakshan, argued that his clients' concerns remained relevant as the film was still available on OTT platforms, and that individuals lacked statutory recourse against CBFC certification unlike producers. He urged the court to frame guidelines for films promoting hate speech. The bench declined to hear the matter now, with Justice Bagchi saying the legal question would await another controversial movie. The court recorded that the question of law would remain open and granted parties liberty to initiate fresh proceedings. The Kerala Story had sparked controversy over its claim that 32,000 women from Kerala were converted to Islam and forced to join ISIS. ## Indian Opinion Analysis All three sources, Times of India, Hindustan Times, and The Federal, reported the court's decision as a routine procedural closure, without adopting a stance for or against the film or the government. The coverage is uniform straight reporting, focusing on the bench's disposal of infructuous pleas and the unresolved legal question. A careful reader should note that the court explicitly declined to address the wider issue of whether citizens can challenge CBFC certification, leaving that for a future controversial film. The next development to watch is any comprehensive writ petition seeking guidelines on hate speech in films, which the CJI invited the petitioners to file. ## Coverage Coverage: 3 sources, 3 neutral - timesofindia.indiatimes.com (neutral report) Straight PTI-sourced report on court proceedings, no framing slant. - hindustantimes.com (neutral report) PTI-sourced report with neutral description of court arguments and disposal. - thefederal.com (neutral report) Syndicated PTI report, no editorial addition or slant. This story was synthesised by AI from the 3 sources linked above. Updated: this story now draws on 3 sources. Last updated 2026-08-21T22:05:48+00:00. Tags: CBFC, Sunshine Pictures, Supreme Court, Surya Kant, The Kerala Story, Vipul Amritlal Shah Canonical: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-closes-kerala-story-petitions-leaves-law-open/ License: Summary and commentary (c) Indian Opinion, reusable with attribution. Facts belong to the linked sources. Cite: https://indianopinion.org/supreme-court-closes-kerala-story-petitions-leaves-law-open/#story-in-brief How this brief was made: an AI model read the reports linked above and wrote this summary and analysis, which were published automatically. Published briefs are sampled every hour by an automated quality check; the editor verifies its findings and approves corrections, and corrected briefs carry a dated correction line. Stance labels are editorial classifications of how each outlet framed this story, assigned by the same model, not ratings of the outlets. We do no original reporting. Methodology: https://indianopinion.org/ai-use-policy/