LAHORE, Aug 26: The Lahore High Court on Tuesday ordered the desealing of Nagina Cinema, which had been closed down by the Lahore DCO on the charges of screening blue prints.

The cinema management had challenged the DCO’s orders in court, saying these orders were illegal. The court allowed the petition on the grounds that no evidence had been provided by the DCO regarding the allegations levelled against the cinema management.

Petitioner Javed Iqbal argued that the cinema hall was raided by the DCO’s inspection team on Aug 10 when a night show was running. The team immediately stopped the show, he added.

The cinema employees were tortured by the inspection team, which the petitioner said had conducted the raid without any justification, as no obscene movie was being screened at that time.

According to the petitioner, no written orders regarding the raid and the subsequent sealing of the cinema were provided to him by the DCO. The sealing orders, he said, were in violation of Section 8(5) of the Motion Picture Ordinance 1979.

The DCO’s counsel defended the action by saying that his client had received numerous complaints against the cinema management with regard to the screening of obscene movies. After receiving these complaints, the DCO sent a raiding party which confirmed the complaints.

It was argued that the DCO, being the licensing authority under the Motion Picture Ordinance 1979, had issued the orders of sealing the cinema.