Censorship in India

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Censorship in India mainly targets religious issues. It is justified by the government as necessary to maintain communal harmony, peace and tranquillity, given the history of communal tension in India.

The Constitution of India guarantees freedom of speech but places "reasonable restrictions" "in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India or public order or morality."^[1]

The report Freedom in the World 2006 by Freedom House gave India a political rights rating of 2, and a civil liberties rating of 3, earning it the designation of free.^[2]

Contents 1 Obscenity law 2 Blasphemy law 3 National security 4 Film 5 Dramas 6 Books 7 Internet 8 References 9 Further reading 10 External links

[edit] Obscenity law

Pornography is illegal and attracts several penal provisions. Some media dealing with sex are frequently banned. Films, television shows and music videos are especially prone, however if any literature is banned, it is not usually for pornographic reasons. Pornographic magazines are technically illegal, but many softcore Indian publications are available through many news vendors, who often stock them at the bottom of a stack of non-pornographic magazines, and make them available on request. In practice, the police usually ignores this as long as the display itself does not display nudity. Most non-Indian publications (including Playboy) are usually harder to find, whether softcore or hardcore. Mailing pornographic magazines to India from a country where they are legal is also illegal in India. In practice, the magazines are almost always confiscated by Customs and entered as evidence of law-breaking, which then undergoes detailed scrutiny.

[edit] Blasphemy law

Media that defames a religion are frequently banned.

[edit] National security

The Official Secrets Act 1923 is used for the protection of official information, mainly related to national security.^[3]

[edit] Film

The Central Board of Film Certification, the regulatory film body of India, regularly orders directors to remove anything it deems offensive, including sex, nudity, violence or subjects considered politically subversive.^[4]

In 2002, the film War and Peace, depicting scenes of nuclear testing and the 11 September atrocities, created by Anand Patwardhan, was asked to make 21 cuts before it was allowed to have the certificate for release.^[5][6] Patwardhan objected, saying "The cuts that they asked for are so ridiculous that they won't hold up in court" and "But if these cuts do make it, it will be the end of freedom of expression in the Indian media."

In 2002, the Indian filmmaker and former chief of the country's film censor board, Vijay Anand, kicked up a controversy with a proposal to legalise the exhibition of X-rated films in selected cinemas across the country, saying "Porn is shown everywhere in India clandestinely... and the best way to fight this onslaught of blue movies is to show them openly in theatres with legally authorised licences".^[4] He resigned within a year after taking charge of the censor board after facing widespread criticism of his moves.^[7]

In 2004, the documentary Final Solution, which looks at religious rioting between Hindus and Muslims, was banned.^[8][9] The film follows 2002 clashes in the western state of Gujarat, which left more than 1,000 people dead. The censor board justified the ban, saying it was "highly provocative and may trigger off unrest and communal violence".

In 2006, seven states (Nagaland, Punjab, Goa, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh) have banned the release or exhibition of the Hollywood movie The Da Vinci Code (and also the book),^[10] although India's Central Board of Film Certification cleared the film for adult viewing throughout India.^[11]

Although the Tamil Nadu Government banned the movie 'The Da Vinci Code', on 7/7/2006, the Madras High Court vacated the ban, and the movie is set to show in Tamil Nadu.

[edit] Dramas

In 1999 Maharashtra government banned the Marathi play 'Me Nathuram Godse Boltoy" or 'I am Nathuram Godse Speaking" [1]

[edit] Books

Books which are critical of India, Indian foreign policy, Kashmir, or those that contain sex or deflame a religion, are frequently banned in India.^[12] Further, books which are critical of national icons such as Nehru are usually met with a hostile reception and are also banned.^[12]

In 1989, Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses was banned in India, as it was in many countries, for its purported attacks on Islam.^[13] India was the first country in the world to ban the book.

The book Understanding Islam through Hadis by Ram Swarup was also banned.^[14] In 1990 the Hindi translation of the book was banned, and in March 1991 the English original became banned as well. Books by Taslima Nasrin were banned in West Bengal.^[15]

A book on the Maharashtrian prince, Shivaji, by Queens University Professor Jayant Lele was also banned.^{[citation needed]} This book asked the question of who was the father of Shivaji. Shortly thereafter, the Central government of the time, which contained the Shiv Sena, banned Shivaji: Hindu King in Islamic India, penned by American scholar James Laine, and another book The Epic of Shivaji, which contained the objectionable phrase "Oedipal rebel", following an attack by Sambhaji Brigade activists on the Bhandarkar Oriental Research Institute in Pune.The subsequent UPA government has not revoked the ban.

[edit] Internet

In 2004, a Yahoo! Groups discussion group was blocked because of fears the group, the Kynhun forum, had links with banned separatists.^[16][17] The ban resulted in the entire Yahoo! Groups being banned due to the internet service providers' inability to implement a sub-group ban, and hence a huge range of harmless material were made inaccessible. The government used new information technology laws to force Indian internet service providers to block the forum after Yahoo! refused to comply. The ban sparked outrage and led to many people calling for the ban to be lifted. Concerns have been voiced that despite the inherent power of ruling bodies, the actions of the Indian government are actually illegal: "But the route they have taken is completely illegal and will be struck down if challenged in court", says Indian cyberlaw expert, Pawan Duggal.^[16]

India has blocked Internet access to several blogs and web sites in July 2006 because of the 11 July 2006 Mumbai train bombings.^[18]

An active community of bloggers came up and protested against censorship on internet. The complete documentation is available at Bloggers against censorship wiki and at Indiacensored.com

[edit] References

[edit] Further reading

• Elst, Koenraad: Negationism in India - Concealing the Record of Islam (1992) ISBN 81-85990-01-8
• Chandmal Chopra and Goel, Sita Ram The Calcutta Quran Petition (1986, enlarged 1987 and again 1999) ISBN 81-85990-58-1
• Goel, Sita Ram (editor): Freedom of expression - Secular Theocracy Versus Liberal Democracy (1998) ISBN 81-85990-55-7

[edit] External links

• Ban this book
• Book banning
• Censorship in India - IFEX