HC paves way for screening of documentary on Kashmir violence

The Delhi High Court today paved the way for the screening of a documentary on the victims of violence in the Kashmir Valley without any cut, saying the film does not contain any objectionable material and deserved issuance of a 'U' certificate for public viewing.
However, a bench of Chief Justice G Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath noted that so far as insertion of a disclaimer was concerned, Pankaj Butalia, producer-director of documentary "Textures of Loss", has already agreed to do it.
The bench concurred with the conclusion of a single judge bench which had directed the Censor Board to issue a certificate for public screening without any cut.

"It may be true that the issue of violence in Kashmir is a sensitive topic. However, we do not find any objectionable material in the film in question," the bench said.
"We, therefore, entirely agree with the conclusion of the single judge that the film in question shall be issued 'U' certificate without deletions/excisions ordered by appellate tribunal and the order under appeal to the said extent warrants no interference.
"So far as the insertion of the disclaimer is concerned, as already mentioned above, the respondent No.1 (Butalia)/writ petitioner has agreed to insert the same," the bench said.

The order came on a petition filed by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting against May 2015 order of single judge which had set aside the decisions of CBFC and film certification appellate tribunal while holding that a 'U' certificate be issued to the film without any deletions.

Upholding the single judge order, the bench observed that the documentary was of approximately 61 minutes and stated to be based on case studies of the people who were affected by the long-drawn violence in the Kashmir Valley.
"The writ petitioner has made an attempt to portray the life of the people in the valley of Kashmir, who were affected by long term violence, by interviewing the family members of some of the victims of violence," the bench noted.
The bench said the film seems to depict the emotions of
persons who had lost their dear ones in the violence.

While allowing the public screeing of the film without any cut, the bench in its eight-page order said, "Moreover the film is a documentary and cannot be equated with the motion pictures which generally cater for mass audience."
"As rightly observed by the single judge, the statement of the father of the child who was killed in one of the incidents of violence, if seen in the context of circumstances, cannot be held to have the effect of demoralising the security forces, much less can be held to have conveyed an anti-national sentiment," it said.
Referring to the settled law on the issue, the bench said if the statements, which are directed to be deleted by the appellate tribunal, are judged from the point of view of the theme of the film, they cannot be held to be objectionable on any ground whatsoever.

Regarding the disclaimer, the bench held that though the single judge had set aside the direction for its insertion but Butalia's counsel had contended before it that they have no objection on it.
In his plea filed before the single judge, Butalia had challenged the December 2013 and September 2014 orders of CBFC and the film certification appellate tribunal respectively.
Both the authorities, in their respective orders had directed Butalia to insert a disclaimer as well as make cuts in the documentary before it is allowed for public screening.
Butalia, however, had earlier contended that if Shahid Kapoor starrer "Haider" can be screened despite having explicit scenes and showing the army in a bad light, why was he being asked to make cuts in his documentary and insert disclaimers.