Court clears 'Haq' release — a cinematic retelling of Shah Bano's fight

The Madhya Pradesh High Court has rejected a petition by Siddiqua Begum Khan, daughter of Shah Bano Begum, that sought to block the release of the Hindi film Haq. Starring Yami Gautam Dhar and Emraan Hashmi, the film draws on Shah Bano’s life and the pivotal 1985 legal battle that won divorced Muslim women maintenance rights.

Siddiqua Begum Khan had asked the court to halt distribution, arguing the makers proceeded without the family's permission and had misrepresented intimate aspects of her mother’s life, amounting to commercial exploitation of Shah Bano’s personality and privacy.

Justice Pranay Verma of the Indore bench dismissed those objections, observing that reputation or privacy accrued during a person’s lifetime does not survive as inheritable property after death. He noted such claims could not form the basis for restraining the film’s release.

The bench further pointed to the filmmakers’ disclaimer, which describes the picture as a dramatization, a fictional adaptation of a book and an inspiration drawn from a Supreme Court judgment. The court said that because the work is presented as fiction inspired by real events, a degree of creative latitude is permissible and does not automatically amount to sensationalism or false portrayal.

Directed by Suparn S Verma, Haq revisits the watershed Shah Bano case that began with a 1978 maintenance petition and culminated in the Supreme Court’s 1985 ruling under Section 125 of the CrPC. That verdict was subsequently undercut by legislation passed the following year. Haq is slated to open in theatres on November 7, 2025.