BREAKING: No need to stand up in halls during National Anthem says Supreme Court!

The Supreme Court on Tuesday clarified that people are not obligated to stand up when the National Anthem is played as a part of the storyline of a film, newsreel or documentary. The Judgement came after one of the petitioners asked the apex court to clarify if people need to stand up if the National anthem is played in between the movie. Judgement was delivered by a bench of Justices Dipak Misra and R Banumathi.

This order comes months after the apex court had mandated all the cinema halls to play the national anthem at the beginning of the movie accompanied by the showing of National Flag on the screen. The Supreme Court had directed that all the people present in the movie halls must stand at the time of National Anthem is played and show respect towards it.

In November, 2016 The Supreme Court had directed Cinema Halls to play the Indian National Anthem in the theatres before screening the movies. The court had accepted the petition filed by Shyam Narayan Chouksey and upheld that the national flag should also be shown on the screen and mandated everyone to rise during the national anthem.

The bench headed by Justices Amitava Roy and Dipak Mishra stressed that it is the duty of every citizen of the country to exhibit respect to the anthem and the flag. The bench also directed the Centre that the order should be followed in a week's time and should be circulated to all the States and Union Territories through Chief Secretaries.

In November 2016, the Supreme Court mandated all the cinema halls to play the national anthem at the beginning of the movie and directed the Center to circulate the order to all the chief secretaries of the state.

It is still important to stand when the national anthem is played at the beginning of the movie.

– TNT news

Inputs from The Logical Indian