The Supreme Court on Wednesday refused to urgently hear a plea seeking to stop the release of the Hindi film Udaipur Files, which is reportedly based on the 2022 killing of Udaipur tailor Kanhaiya Lal, Bar and Bench reported.

The writ petition was filed by Mohammed Javed, one of the eight persons accused in the murder case. He argued that the release of the film would violate his right to a fair trial, Live Law reported.

He had sought that the release of the film be postponed until the trial in the matter concluded. The film is scheduled to release in theatres on Friday.

A vacation bench of Justices Sudhanshu Dhulia and Joymala Bagchi said that the plea could be mentioned before the appropriate bench when the court reopens on July 14 after the summer break. It added that the movie could be released in the meantime.

In June 2022, Lal, a tailor, was killed in Rajasthan’s Udaipur for purportedly sharing a social media post in support of suspended Bharatiya Janata Party Spokesperson Nupur Sharma. She had made disparaging remarks about Prophet Muhammad during a television debate in May 2022.

The assailants and several other persons accused in the matter were arrested by the Rajasthan Police. A video showed two men claiming responsibility for the killing of Lal as they brandished the cleavers used in the murder.

The murder case was investigated by the National Investigation Agency and the persons accused in the matter were charged under the Unlawful Activities Prevention Act. The trial is underway in a Special NIA Court in Jaipur.

The petitioner has argued that the film, based on its trailer, appeared to be communally provocative.

Releasing the film at this stage of the trial in the murder case, portraying the persons accused in the matter as guilty and the story as being conclusively true, could prejudice the proceedings, Live Law quoted the petitioner as having argued.

Maulana Arshad Madani, the chief of the Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind, has moved the Delhi High Court to stop the release of the film.

Madani argued that the film’s trailer portrays that the murder of the tailor was committed with the complicity of the leaders of the Muslim community and that such a narrative could create a wedge between Hindus and Muslims, Bar and Bench reported.