NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni said Monday that the Central Board for Film Certification had been given the mandate of judging the item songs or other scenes in films.
On a question about a directive of the Allahabad High Court on item songs in films, Soni said the Ministry had conveyed this in its reply to the Court notice.
The High Court had listed for hearing today a public interest litigation demanding an immediate ban on Bollywood item numbers ‘Munni Badnam Hui’ and ‘Sheila ki Jawani’ on the grounds that they were against decency and morality, after asking the Centre to give its response by that date.
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The order was passed by a division bench of the Lucknow bench comprising Justices Pradeepkant and Rituraj Awasthi. On 23 December, a woman had filed the PIL seeking an immediate ban on the two songs.
We already have an inter-ministerial panel which handles such issues and any notice from the court would be referred to it,… Soni said.
The panel set up for screening programmes for viewership acts on the basis of complaints and comprises representatives from the law ministry, women and child development ministry and organisations such as the National Commission for Women (NCW).
The petition says that the songs contain indecent and vulgar verbal and visual material which violates provisions of the Cinematography Act, 1952.
In a supplementary affidavit, Thakur has listed at least half a dozen instanceswith names either Sheila or Munni have been harassed or molested with these songs. There have been incidents of violence, eve-teasing, molestation, mental harassment and public/private nuisance, all of grave criminal nature,… the affidavit states.
The PIL mentions the case of two Mumbai sisters Sheila Giri, and Munni Giri, who have been compelled to change their names because of the continued eve-teasing.
