New Delhi: The Supreme Court laid down norms mandating all Cinema halls to play the National Anthem.
Acting on a petition that alleged misuse of the anthem, the order mandates that the countries National Anthem must be played before every film screening in movie halls accompanied by national flag on screen.
The court also stated that everyone present in the cinema halls must stand-up and pay respect to the National Anthem.
The Centre agreed to circulate the order to chief secretaries of all states and heads of Union Territories and also to publish it on electronic and print media.
Directing not to “dramatize” or exploit it commercially, the Supreme Court also added that any abridged version of the National Anthem can’t be played in any form for any purpose, especially in commercial ads.
Further, the court also said that as a matter of respect, the national anthem should not be printed or displayed on undesirable objects.
The petition was filed by Shyam Narayan Chouski, who runs an NGO in Bhopal against the misuse of the anthem.
In 2003, the Maharashtra government passed an order asking for the anthem to be played before the screening of any film. It was mandatory for cinema halls to play the national anthem after every movie in the 1960s. The practice faded away by the 1990s.
