HC dismisses petition against Rahman, Mittal Press Trust of
India / Chennai August 24, 2007 The Madras High Court today
dismissed a public interest litigation (PIL) filed against music director A R
Rahman and Bharti Enterprises chairman Sunil Mittal accusing them of
disrespecting the national anthem.
A division bench, comprising Chief Justice A P Shah and Justice P Jothimani,
dismissed the PIL filed by J Mohan Raj, general secretary of Jabamani Janata
Party seeking to declare as illegal the sale or telecast of the "truncated and
distorted" audio and video versions of the national anthem composed by Rahman
coinciding with the 60th Independence Day.
Mittal-owned Bharti Airtel had sponsored the programme, which was telecast on
several television channels.
Holding that there was no merit in the PIL, the judges said: "In our considered
view, there was nothing to show that Rahman and Mittal have shown disrespect or
violated rules."
The petitioner contended that the duo had "dishonoured and commercialised" the
national anthem by releasing it to several TV channels in bits of 10 seconds to
seven minutes while the national anthem code specified that it should be sung
in 52 seconds.
Terming it "an insult to the national sentiment", the petitioner wanted it to
be declared "illegal".
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