Supreme Court: Modifying the order dated 30.11.2016, where it was directed that all the cinema halls in India shall play the National Anthem before the feature film starts and all present in the hall are obliged to stand up to show respect to the National Anthem, the bench of Dipak Misra and R. Banumathi, JJ said that the audience need not stand when the National Anthem is sung or played in the storyline of a feature film or part of the newsreel or documentary.
Earlier on 9.12.2016 has modified the earlier order regard being had to the handicapped persons keeping in view the Persons with Disabilities (Equal Opportunity Protection of Rights and Full Participation) Act, 1995. In pursuance of the said order, guidelines were issued on 21.12.2016 prescribing the modalities for the persons with disabilities to show respect to the National Anthem. However, taking note of the fact that the Parliament has brought a new legislation called ‘The Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 which repeals the 1995 Act, the Court asked the Union of India to issue appropriate notification/guidelines in view of the language employed in the Rights of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2016 within a week. [Shyam Narayan Chouksey v. Union of India, 2017 SCC OnLine SC 129, order dated 14.02.2017]
