Hours after a judge put on hold the release of the film The Kerala Story 2-Goes Beyond for 15 days, a division bench of Kerala High Court on Thursday considered an appeal against the interim order and reserved its verdict.

A bench of Justices Sushrut Arvind Dharmadhikari and P.V. Balakrishnan reserved its decision following a late evening hearing of nearly two hours during which it observed that the pleas opposing the film’s certification were in the nature of a public interest litigation (PIL) and questioned how the single judge could hear it.

The bench, however, did not pass any interim order in the court at the conclusion of the hearing, as sought by the producer. The order had not been uploaded till 12am on Friday.

The bench heard extensive arguments on behalf of the film’s producer, Vipul Amrutlal Shah, who moved the appeal against the single judge’s interim order.

Appearing for the producer, senior advocate Neeraj Kishan Kaul told the court that the film does not harm or denigrate the state of Kerala or any religious community.

The senior advocate argued that even the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) found that there was nothing in the film which denigrates the state. “The film only portrays a social evil,” he contended.

The senior advocate further argued that once the single judge told the Centre to pass orders on the revision moved by one of the petitioners, he could not have kept the matter open and passed an interim order.

This is contrary to the Supreme Court’s rulings and the same was brought to the attention of the single judge, Kaul contended.

Additional reporting by PTI