Application of Film Censorship Laws in the Context of Bangladesh

Amit Kumar Dev: The Cinematograph Act, 1918 is about regulating exhibitions by means of Cinematograph & The Censorship of Films Act, 1963 is about the censorship of cinematograph films and decertification of certified films on certain grounds according to their objective or purpose of these Acts respectively. It can also be said that The Cinematograph Act, 1918 deals with how & where a film can be exhibited or not and The Censorship of Films Act deals with types of films that should be produced or not.

According to the laws, there will be 2(two) types of licensing authority. They are censorship board & Deputy Commissioner elected under The Censorship of Films Act, 1963. The Censorship of Films Act, 1963 has the supreme licensing authority between these two. Both piece of legislation are very age old to address current situation in the film industry.

Section 8 of The Cinematograph Act, 1918 describes about power to make rules which has been made very much specific comparing to the other Acts existing in Bangladesh. This section simply says about the government can make rules without power prejudice which means, the government here can make rules to make these Act’s objective successful and effective. Section 8 of this Act also says about when we can assume a rule as a law which is rarely seen in other Act’s.

According to Section 9 of this Act, there is a power to exempt rules for a cinematograph exhibition or a class of cinematograph exhibition which will be imposed by government meaning that government has the power to exempt rules by written order with some restrictions.

On the other hand, Section 4 of The Censorship of Films Act, 1963 includes that the board would not accept or certify any feature film, not being a foreign film which exceeds 14000 feet. Is this really now needed for the current time where digital camera is used everywhere? As now a days, reels is not being used to capture films.

According to section 4B of The Censorship of Films Act, 1963 Bangladesh Films Sensor Board will be constituted by the government itself. But it doesn’t clarify about the qualification& numbers of board members. So, it can be said that even one or two members can be elected for the board which means there is no specific body.

For example, if there is one member in the board, only he can express his view and when there is more than one member, they can express their view then. The question arises here what is the ultimate reason here if only one person give certificate on just his opinion. Here, government also has the total right to wave the rights or not. It can be said that the Acts that were enacted in British period, were also kept in Pakistan Period & Bangladesh has established these Acts without through consideration. Whereas most of the countries have left alone Acts enacted in British period saying it might be a curtail of democracy, our country is still following the colonial laws.

There is also a provision in Section 4 where there is a term of double jeopardy in this Act. It means risk or disadvantage incurred from two sources simultaneously. Here, if the board doesn’t issue a certificate, the government also will not issue the certificate without any reason.

According to Section 7A of The Censorship of Films Act, there is seizure of films which depends everything on the think tank of the so called board. Here, the board can authorize any police officer (not below the rank of Sub-Inspector) or any District Information Officer to search the place & seize the film. So the question is how can this board be able to authorize this type of action although the board is not part of the executive? Whereas the Police Officer & District Information Officer are both a part of executive.

So, this may be controversial here. This provision was approved because this Act was enacted in Pakistani period. So it was left out somehow in that time that the executive has a different power to exercise which is different from any other organ of the government. It may be concluded that law has given the board more power here to make dents into the executive which may push the executive to the edge.

Although an amendment came in 2006 of section 9 of The Censorship of Films Act, 1963 but it was ignored somehow. It means that the power of Executive has been criticized here. The board has been given much power here than the executive. As a result, there is a chance of an organization becoming powerful suddenly and the Board and Executive may lock horns at any time.  But these things are under control right now by Government& still in the operation of law. Although the much needed proper attention from government hasn’t come through.

According to Section 11 of this Act, the govt can in writing or with any term/provision or with imposing one or more than one provision can exempt any films. Which means there is no need to approval of censorship certificate or publicity material.

As a result, while these legislations has been full of phenomenon in the colonial period, applicability of them continues to elude in the current context of Bangladesh.

So, the government should amend these Acts by which they can translate their potential to performance.

Writer: Amit Kumar Dev; Student, Department of Law & Human Rights, University of Asia Pacific.