TV channels bound to obey December 2005 order: High Court
(No Ratings Yet)The Bombay High Court today held that broadcasters, including TV channels and direct-to-home (DTH) service providers, are bound to obey a December 21, 2005 order banning the telecast of movies with ‘A’ certificates.
A Division Bench of Justice R M Lodha and Justice S A Bobde made it clear that the December 2005 order — which came in response to PIL filed by professor Pratibha Naithani — is applicable to foreign-based channels, if they are being downlinked in India.
In its August 16 order, the bench had lambasted the police for not taking action against cable operators who, continued to telecast movies with ‘A’ certificates.
However, today’s order made an important modification: After hearing the counsels of various parties involved in the case, the court held that films with U/A (Universal/Adult) certificates cannot be banned. These films, which children under the age of 12 can watch with parental guidance in movie theatres, can be aired on TV, the court held today.
Only, while airing these movies, there will have to be a cautionary notice stating movie’s status.
The court also said that with this modificacation, if police have taken action against anybody for showing U/A movie in the past few days, such an action will have to be discharged.
However, the cable operators in Mumbai who blanked out all channels following police crack down in the past week, came in for tongue lashing. “The act was irresponsible”, the Judges said, adding that cable operators cannot charge the subscribers for the two days when the service was not available. — PTI
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