Some content on TV needs censorship: HC

The High Court on Tuesday said there are certain programmes and advertisements aired on television channels which need serious censorship.  Hearing a plea for censorship of TV programmes, Justice A N Venugopala Gowda said it becomes very embarrassing to watch such programmes with children. 

The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) have sought dismissal of a petition seeking standard  guidelines for movies and TV programmes. The petitioner, Megha Movies, said that CBFC and the ministry had double standards for film and TV producers. In their objections, the ministry and CBFC said that there is a defined code in place to check violations under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995 and Rules. They said that there is no pre-censorship for any programmes or ads on TV channels. However, programmes should be in conformity with the ‘Programme and Advertising Codes’ prescribed under the rules. The petitioner’s allegation is baseless, they stated.

The petitioner challenged the board's decision to delete some scenes from the Kannada movie, ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu’, which had lewd comments, but were cleared by the Censor Board for the trailer. The petitioner has sought directions to follow similar guidelines, incorporated in the Cinematography Act, 1952 for TV serials/advertisements and promotion of products. 

Additional Solicitor General Prabhulinga Navadgi said he needs more time to give details on what the ministry and CBFC have done with censorship on TV programmes. The judge adjourned the hearing to October 4.