The Lucknow bench of the Allahabad high court has sought reply from the Centre and Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on a PIL that the dialogues of a movie were allegedly against the people of Bihar.
The court directed the Centre and CBFC to file replies by August 13 on the PIL seeking directives for cancellation of the Censor Board certificate issued to the dubbed Hindi version of the 2015 Telugu movie ‘Dhee Ante Dhee’ (named ‘Taaqatwar Policewala’) over an alleged dialogue against the people of Bihar.
A division bench of justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash Shukla passed the order recently on a PIL by a Lucknow resident Deepanker Kumar. The PIL also sought direction from the Centre for action against the chairperson and members of CBFC for granting certificates for public exhibition to films containing ‘unwarranted’ dialogues.
Referring to the mandate of Section 5B of the Cinematograph Act, 1952, the petitioner’s counsel submitted before the court that if a film or any part of it is against the sovereignty and integrity of the country, the security of the state, friendly relations with foreign states, public order, decency, morality, defamation or contempt of the court, or is likely to incite the commission of any offence, it shall not be certified for public exhibition.
The court also directed, “The official respondents shall also mention in the counter affidavit (reply) as to whether for certification of films being displayed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and social medial network site etc., there is any other mechanism or respondent No.2 (CBFC) competent in that regard also. In the event, counter affidavit is not filed, a responsible gazetted officer of the respondent No.2 shall join the proceedings through video conferencing on the next date”.
{{/usCountry}}The court also directed, “The official respondents shall also mention in the counter affidavit (reply) as to whether for certification of films being displayed on over-the-top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix, Amazon Prime and social medial network site etc., there is any other mechanism or respondent No.2 (CBFC) competent in that regard also. In the event, counter affidavit is not filed, a responsible gazetted officer of the respondent No.2 shall join the proceedings through video conferencing on the next date”.
{{/usCountry}}After initial hearing of the PIL , the court directed that the matter be listed on August 13 for the next hearing.