NEW DELHI — India’s Supreme Court on Tuesday reversed a ruling that ordered the national anthem to be played before movie screenings while audiences stand, a ruling that sparked a spate of arrests and attacks on cinema-goers who refused to rise. The new decision, Indian news outlets reported, allows theaters to choose whether to play the national anthem. The 2016 ruling, which the court had said was designed to instill patriotism, set off a wave of attacks in theaters, including one on a disabled man in a wheelchair. The court had indicated it might reverse its ruling. During a hearing last year, a group of justices noted that “Citizens cannot be forced to carry patriotism on their sleeves and courts cannot inculcate patriotism among people through its order,” the Press Trust of India news agency reported. The court has also ordered that a government commission be established to recommend further decisions on whether the anthem should be played in theaters. This comes a day after the federal government filed an affidavit informing the top court that it was in favor of modification of the November 2016 order, a complete turnabout from its previous stand on the issue. The apex court had on Nov. 30, 2016 directed that all cinema halls must play national anthem before screening of films saying that “it would instill the feeling within one, a sense committed patriotism and nationalism”. During the hearing on a plea on its earlier order on Oct. 23, 2017, another Supreme Court bench had questioned the logic behind the order, saying there is no need for an Indian to “wear his patriotism on his sleeve”. — Agencies