IMAGE: Two Supreme Court judges ruled on November 30, 2016 that every cinema hall in the country would play the Jana Gana Mana before every movie screening and that everyone in the theatre would need to stand up when the national anthem is being played. Discarding notions of “any different notion or the perception of individual rights”, a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and Amitava Roy added that the movie screen shall have the image of the national flag when the anthem is being played and that doors of the halls will remain shut during the anthem so that no disturbance is caused. Recording a submission by Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi that the national anthem has to be respected, the bench also retrained printing or displaying the national anthem or a part of it on any object and in “such a manner at such places which may be disgraceful to its status and tantamount to disrespect.”

In making this order, the bench referred to Article 51(A) (a) of the Constitution, which states that “it shall be the duty of every citizen of India to abide by the Constitution and respect its ideals and institutions, the National Flag and the National Anthem”.
The Indian Supreme Court orders all cinemas must play the national anthem, and the audience must stand during its performance, before a film is screened. Order is effective in 10 days.