NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court stayed the West Bengal government's order banning the screening of the movie 'The Kerala Story'. A bench headed by Chief Justice D V Chandrachud said that since the film has received CBFC certification, it is the duty of the state government to maintain law and order.

The court held that the ban could not be justified on the basis of the evidence produced by the Bengal government and therefore stayed the order banning the film. "There is no evidence of religious conversion of young women as is said in the movie. That is why the court said that the movie is just a fantasy. Bad films fail at the box office", the SC bench observed.

The Supreme Court heard a petition filed by the producer of the film, Sunshine Productions, questioning the ban imposed by the West Bengal government against the film and the exclusion of the film from Tamil Nadu theatres due to law and order issues.

The Chief Justice also directed the Tamil Nadu government to make security arrangements for those coming to watch the movie. The court also informed that the petition questioning the certification of the film will be considered in July. The hearing was heard by a bench comprising Chief Justice D V Chandrachud, Justice PS Narasimha and Justice JB Pardiwala.

'The Kerala Story' directed by Sudipto Sen hit the theaters on May 5. There are allegations in the film that thousands of women in Kerala were forced to convert to Islam and then joined ISIS, which caused controversy.