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Defence Ministry’s Plea to CBFC: Production houses to Obtain NOC before telecasting any content on Army theme

Dated: August 01, 2020

                                                                                                                                                           - By Megha Bhatia

The Ministry of Defence in its recent letter has officially written to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology and the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to instruct production houses to receive a No Objection Certificate (NOC) from the Ministry of Defence prior to telecasting of any film/documentary/web series on the subject of “the Army” in general.

It was undertaken to curb events that harm Defence Forces’ reputation and hurt the feelings of  Defence staff and veterans. A letter intimating the decision was submitted to the Regional Officer, Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) on 27 July 2020. The ministry has claimed in the letter that there are films and web series which misrepresent the Indian Army image. “It has been brought to the notice of this Ministry that some production houses making films on Army theme are using contents which are distorting the image of the Indian Army.” The Ministry has urged that the persons concerned may be advised to prevent “any incident which distorts the image of Defence Forces or hurts their sentiment.”

Recently, before the Allahabad High Court, a PIL has sought a blanket ban on uploading a web series created by Ekta Kapoor, allegedly for disrespecting the Indian Army and their uniforms. A web series that streams on ALT Balaji appeared to be the cause for the missive. Yet, as web series are not within the purview of the Censor Board, it was uncertain whether the Censor Board might proceed on the contents of the letter given to the Defence Ministry.\

The Ministry of Defence had received several complaints posing serious concerns regarding representation of Indian Army workers and Military Uniform in an offensive way. In some of the web series on ALT Balaji such as Code M on Zee 5 and XXX Uncensored (season-2), the Army-related scenes are far from fact and show a skewed picture of the Armed Forces. Some concerned people and groups of ex-servicemen have also lodged FIR against ALT Balaji requesting legal action.

With the exception of the characterization of the Army’s wife as an adulterous woman in Episode one of “XXX – Season 2,” the appeal provided by an Indian soldier’s brother-in-law, stated: “The depiction in broadcasting of this episode sends out the message that the wives of the officers of Indian Army indulge themselves in extra-marital affairs and performs Adultery behind the backs of the officers when they are serving the nation.”

It was suggested that depicting the lives of the spouse of the army or certain officers in such a unfavourable way could do “irreparable harm” to the soldiers’ emotional stability and psychological wellbeing and could have a detrimental impact on their performance.

The Petitioner, represented by Advocates Ankur Verma, Abhinav Gaur and Dhananjai Rai, had stated that while Freedom of Expression is a fundamental right, reasonable restrictions on speech, as contained under Article 19(2) of the Constitution must also be observed. 

This was claimed that the armed forces are a separate branch and, in terms of Article 33 of the Indian Constitution, require special consideration.

“This very article that takes away the basic right from armed forces implicitly expects safeguard of at least the honour of forces. Those safeguarding the country cannot be exposed to insults and mocking,” the petition says, thus asking the court to prohibit the broadcasting/ airing of the Web Series on the ALT Balaji web website and every other channel where it is transmitted.

Kapoor and others have been booked under Sections 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 298 (Uttering, words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound the religious feelings of any person) of the Indian Penal Code, Information Technology (IT) Act, and the State Emblem of India (Prohibition of Improper Use) Act, 2005.

A letter which was sent to the Ministry of Communication and Communications and the Ministry of Telecommunications and Information Technology was sent to find the electronic material in the grey region. In March 2020, India’s government had granted the OTT network 100 days to create an adjudicatory body asking the platforms to finalize a code of conduct.