Post by : Meena
Hassan
The Madhya Pradesh High Court has refused a plea by Siddiqua Begum Khan, daughter of Shah Bano Begum, seeking to block the release of the Hindi feature Haq. The film, which stars Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi, draws its premise from Shah Bano’s life and the pivotal 1985 legal judgment on maintenance rights for divorced Muslim women.
Siddiqua Begum Khan had asked the court to stay the film’s release on the basis that it was produced without the family’s consent and misrepresented aspects of her late mother’s life, alleging commercial exploitation of her privacy and persona.
Justice Pranay Verma, sitting at the Indore bench, rejected these assertions, observing that privacy or reputation acquired during a person’s lifetime do not survive death and cannot be treated as inheritable property.
The court further noted the film’s disclaimer describing the project as a dramatization and an adaptation inspired by a Supreme Court judgment, finding no clear evidence that the content was fabricated or sensationalised. The bench said that creative licence in works of fiction inspired by real events allows for some latitude and does not automatically amount to false portrayal.
Directed by Suparn S Verma, Haq is based on the landmark Shah Bano case. Shah Bano, then aged 62, filed for maintenance in 1978 against her former husband Mohammed Ahmed Khan, a prominent lawyer. The Supreme Court ruled in her favour in 1985 under Section 125 of the Code of Criminal Procedure, though subsequent legislation the following year curtailed the practical effect of that judgment.
Haq is set to hit cinemas on November 7, 2025.
English
