Supreme Court seeks Centre's reply as Amol Palekar challenges Censor

New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Monday sought the response of the Centre on a writ petition filed by filmmaker Amol Palekar seeking to quash the provisions of Cinematograph Act which empowers the Central Board of Film Certification to carry out unreasonable cuts in the films for grant of certification.

A Bench headed by Justice A.K. Sikri issued notice to the Centre on the petition which alleged that imposing cuts in the films amounted to pre-censorship which is an unreasonable restriction and wanted all restrictions on artistic freedom be lifted.

He sought a declaration that the present CBFC is incompetent to carry on functions under the said Act He also prayed for quashing the guidelines for film certification as they are abstract, vague, imprecise leading to rampant erratic, subjective interpretations of scenes/language in a film amounting to unfair curtailment of the film makers freedom of expression.

Mr Palekar cited the instances of directions to remove “Maan ki Baat” from a dialogue; asking to get an NOC from the PMO’s office for the title of the film Modi Kaa Gaon. And another film which was denied certification in Kerala on the grounds that the film is unsuitable to get released since “the story is lady oriented; their fantasy about sex, audio pornography”, among others.