New Delhi - India's apex Supreme Court on Monday turned down two petitions seeking to ban the screening of controversial film The Da Vinci Code.
While rejecting the petitions filed by an individual and a Christian organization, the court said the film carried a disclaimer making it clear that it was a work of fiction and hence its screening could not violate anyone's rights.
The All India Christians Welfare Association and a man claiming to be member of the Delhi-based Cathedral Church had sought a ban on the film and the book by author Dan Brown on which it is based saying they violated the fundamental rights of the Christian community in India.
Dan Brown's novel challenges traditional teachings about the life of Jesus by saying he was married and fathered a child.
The book's plot is a murder-mystery involving a conspiracy by Opus Dei, a real-life conservative Catholic group, to cover up the truth about Jesus' bloodline.
'You (petitioners) yourself accept that it is fiction and not fact then there should be no objection,' PTI news agency quoted the two-judge bench as saying in its ruling.
The bench also expressed surprise that the opposition to Dan Brown's book came three years after it was published.
The judges also wanted to know how many countries where Christianity was the main religion had banned the book to which the counsel for the petitioners had no answer.
Five states in india including southern Tamil Nadu, northern Punjab and north-eastern Manipur, have have banned the film.
The nationwide release in May was also delayed by a few weeks following protests by Christian groups.
The film was finally released with the dislaimer at the beginning and end clarifying it was a work of fiction.
Christians form 2.4 per cent of India's billion-plus population, 82 per cent of whom are Hindu and 12 per cent Muslim.
© 2006 dpa - Deutsche Presse-Agentur 
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