The Supreme Court has said that it will hear a petition challenging the Kerala High Court’s refusal to stay the release of the film ‘The Kerala Story’, which opened in theatres on May 5.

Yesterday, senior advocate Kapil Sibal mentioned the appeal filed by journalist Qurban Ali.

The bench, which included Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud and Justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala, agreed to hear it today but later said it would be heard on May 16 due to a special bench hearing at 3 pm on Monday.

The senior lawyer stated that an urgent hearing was required because the high court refused to grant an interim stay on the film’s release on May 5, PTI reported from New Delhi.

The high court order was issued after the judges watched the movie’s trailer.

A slew of petitions sought a halt to the film’s release and even questioned the Central Board of Film Certifications’ (CBFC) clearance.

In his petition, Ali claimed that the film amounted to hate speech because it claimed that nearly 32,000 Kerala girls were persuaded to join ISIS by Muslim friends.

This breeds enmity and hatred among various groups, Ali argued in a high court petition seeking a stay of the film’s release.

On May 3, the Supreme Court refused to hear the movie-related petitions and directed the petitioners to the jurisdictional high court.

The petitions, including one requesting that a disclaimer stating that the film is a work of fiction be added to the title, were mentioned for urgent hearing before a bench comprising Chief Justice Chandrachud and Justice P S Narasimha.

On Friday, the Supreme Court sought responses from the State governments of West Bengal and Tamil Nadu on a separate petition filed by the producers of ‘The Kerala Story’ alleging that the film is not being shown in theatres in these two states.

While West Bengal banned the film after three days of screenings in theatres, Tamil Nadu did not ban it, but exhibitors withdrew it from cinema halls due to security concerns.