- Bombay HC orders BMC to re-upload Dia Mirza's video.
- Court deemed video removal 'unfortunate' and 'factional'.
- Stressed public awareness campaigns need celebrity support.
The Bombay High Court on Tuesday pulled up the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) for taking down an awareness campaign video by Dia Mirza, ordering it to re-upload the anti-firecracker video. The High Court observed that the incident was 'unfortunate' and had been given a 'different colour'.
In its order, the High Cout noted that there was no room for factionalism when with such was undertaken with solemnit. "We are disturbed with the comments made by certain persons in regard to celebrities who had participated and assisted in public cause being taken up by BMC of creating awareness of ill effects of bursting firecrackers by the noise and air pollution. In our opinion, BMC took very effective steps, and each one of them (celebrities) have given this message to nurture togetherness. We certainly believe when with such solemnity such task was undertaken, there was no room for factionalism," the HC ruled.
The court suggested that putting up the video back again would be 'ideal' to restore the confidence of people in the Constitution.
In strong remarks, a bench of Justices Girish S Kulkarni and Neela K Gokhale noted noted, "We therefore observe incident taken place yesterday, which in our opinion was unfortunate and it was without taking into consideration the solemnity of court orders and whole intention of what was to be achieved by the campaign."
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Reacting to criticism that led to the controversy, the court observed, "There is no scope for knee-jerk reaction of few people at the cost of society at large."
The video along with similar others from celebrities like Madhuri Dixit and Ajinkya Rahane among others were uploaded by the BMC to spread awareness against bursting fire-crackers on Diwali. The move was promoted by the Bombay High Court's displeasure over efforts by the civic body to deal with rising pollution.
ALSO READ: BMC Takes Down Dia Mirza's Anti-Firecrackers Video For Diwali After BJP Objects
However, after the video sparked a political row on Monday, after the civic body selectively removed her clip from social media following Mumbai BJP chief Ameet Satam''s objection and Mayor Ritu Tawde''s comments labelling her as "anti-Hindu".
(With PTI Inputs)