The Lucknow bench of the Allahaꦜbad High Court has asked the Centre as to which authority undertakes film certification for the display of content on OTT and social media platforms.
The court has asked the Centre and Central Board of Film Certificatꦑion (CBFC) to file a counter affidavit apprising it whether there is any other arrangement for OTT films or whether CBFC is authorised to give certificates to them too.
The court has fixed August 13, 2024, for the 🎃next hearing of the case.
The order was passed by a bench of justices Rajan Roy and Om Prakash S🧔hukla on a PIL filed by🅠 Dipankar Kumar.
In the petition, Kumar has alleged that objectionable comments have been made on the people of Bihar in 'Taktavar Policewala'- a Hinඣdi adaptation of the Telugu movie 'Dhee Ante Dhee'.
The petitioner said that the film, originally made in the Telugu language in 2015, is available on YouTube and dema⛦nded cancellation of the censor board certifi🃏cate of the film.
🀅While hearing the petition, the court-appointed advocate general Kuldeep Pati Tripathi as amicus curiae and asked him to cooperate in the hearing of the case.
After watching the film, the amicus curiae told the court that it contains very ♛objectionable dialogues, which can lead to discr꧂imination based on region, bitterness among people of different states and disturbance of public peace.
On this, the court so🍎ught a reply from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and🥃 CBFC.
The court has also made it clear that if the re🤪ply is not received by the next hearing, a gazetted officer of the CBFC will have to appear for the hearing through video conferencing.
