CENSORSHIP IN INDIA

     

Censorship in india

                                                 -AACHAL BURANDE

        The suppression or control of ideas, public communication and information circulated within a society is termed as censorship. The freedom of speech guaranteed by the Constitution of India can be suppressed if it is considered objectionable, harmful, or necessary to maintain communal harmony. Governments across the globe have used religious arguments as well as other powerful techniques and arguments to support for their censorship efforts. Offensive communication in the eyes of the government varies from country to country, religion to religion, even sect to sect. Many governments provide for certain limited protection against censorship. It is always necessary to balance conflicting rights in order to determine what can and cannot be censored.

A classic example of censorship in India is the Central Board of Film Certification or Censor Board, which comes under the purview of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The Board regularly orders, directors to remove anything it deems offensive or subjects considered to be politically subversive. The censorship of films is governed by the Cinematograph Act, 1952. It assigns certification as Universal, Adults, and Parental Guidance to films in India before public exhibition.

             Around the world the utmost concern of censors is the depiction of violence and sex. The censor board’s job is to control the “corruption of the mind’ and to stop pornographic films. But on the other hand it is ironical that anyone with internet access can see endless amounts of pornography. Today a child with access to internet can see all kinds of pornography by typing three letters “sex”, while the censor board has long discussions on the permissible duration of a kissing scene in a movie. I am not saying that we should legalize pornography, but in today’s age the censor board has to understand that this generation exercises their right to freedom of speech and expression.

            There was a huge controversy with regards to the kissing scene in Dhoom 2 which ended in people burning its movie posters and obstructing people from entering the cinema halls to watch the film. Vishwaroopam, a Tamil film was blocked by the Tamil Nadu government after a protest from the Muslim Community. The director was forced to delete some important scenes from the movie before releasing the same. The Vishwa Hindu Parishad protested against the women modelling dresses bearing images of Hindu Gods, a Fatwawas brought against all girls rock band saying it was Un-Islamic. Therefore, on observing the above incidents it seems that it’s not actually the government censoring but rather the self employed moral police doing the job.