Norms in place to monitor TV content: Centre

The Centre on Tuesday informed the High Court that there already exist guidelines and a state level committee to monitor programmes aired on television. Additional Solicitor General Prabhulinga Navadgi made these submissions to the court in response to a petition seeking directions to lay down proper guidelines for television censorship.

The petitioner, Megha Movies, challenged the CBFC’s  decision to delete some scenes in the Kannada movie, ‘Kiragoorina Gayyaligalu’, on the grounds that there were lewd comments. These comments were otherwise cleared by the Censor Board for the trailer. The petitioner questioned the double standards in the way censorship is applied to movies and television programmes. The petitioner has sought directions to have proper guidelines in the Cinematography Act,1952 for Television Serials and Advertisements and Promotions of Sales Products. Justice A N Venugopala Gowda adjourned the next hearing to October 21, 2016.