Question:

Ms. Usha wants to file a suit against Bhagyalaxmi Theatre praying for a permanent injunction (stay order) restraining the theatre from running the film named "Jai Santoshi Maa". Her contention is that the film hurt her religious feelings and sentiments as Goddess Saraswati, Laxmi and Parvati were depicted as jealous and were ridiculed.

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Ask which legal right of Ms. Usha the theatre has broken. Hurt sentiment is real harm, but harm without a broken right is damnum sine injuria.
Updated On: Jul 17, 2026
  • She cannot file a suit because injury to religious feelings is not a legally recognized right.
  • She cannot file a suit because the Theatre has a fundamental right to speech and expression.
  • She can file a suit as injury to religious feelings has been legally recognized as a right (injuria sine damnum)
  • It is a case of complete judicial discretion.
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The Correct Option is A

Solution and Explanation

Step 1: Understanding the Question.
Ms. Usha feels hurt by how the film shows three goddesses, and she wants the court to stop the theatre from screening it. A civil court will grant an injunction only if she can show that some legal right of hers is being violated. So the real question is whether hurt religious feelings amount to the violation of a legal right.

Step 2: The Rule Being Tested.
The maxim damnum sine injuria covers harm suffered without any legal right being broken, and such harm gives no cause of action. Hurt sentiment, mental distress and offence at what someone else says or shows are real, but the law does not treat them as legal rights that a private person can enforce by suit. The right must exist in law before a court can protect it.

Step 3: Applying the Rule.
Ms. Usha has no legal right that a film must portray deities in a manner she approves of. Her feelings were hurt, which is genuine harm, but the harm sits outside the set of interests that the law recognises as rights. Since there is no injuria, there is nothing for an injunction to protect, and the suit does not lie.
These facts come from Ushaben v. Bhagyalaxmi Chitra Mandir, where the court refused an injunction against "Jai Santoshi Maa" and held the case to be one of damnum sine injuria. The court also pointed out that anyone offended by the film was free simply not to watch it.

Step 4: Why the other options fail.
Option (B) reaches the right outcome by the wrong route. Freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a) binds the State, and it is subject to reasonable restrictions. It is not the reason a private suit between two private parties fails. The suit fails because Usha has no legal right, not because the theatre holds a trump card.
Option (C) is wrong twice over. Injury to religious feelings has not been recognised as a legal right, and the maxim is misapplied. Injuria sine damnum means a legal right broken without any actual loss, which is the exact opposite of Usha's position. Her situation is damnum sine injuria.
Option (D) is wrong because whether a cause of action exists is a question of law, not a matter left to the free discretion of the judge.

Final Answer:
Hurt religious sentiment is not a legally recognised right, so Ms. Usha cannot maintain the suit. Option (A) is correct.
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