Bombay HC refuses to direct CBFC to release certification to producers of ‘Emergency’

New Delhi: In light of a Madhya Pradesh High Court order dated September 3, the Bombay High Court stated on Wednesday that it was unable to give the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) instructions at this time to release the certificate awarded to the Hindi film Emergency, starring Kangana Ranaut, to its co-producers.

The Sikh organisations that had petitioned the Madhya Pradesh High Court against the movie were instructed to present their objections regarding the film and its trailer to the CBFC no later than three days, and the CBFC was requested to take prompt action on the matter.

On the other hand, the CBFC was requested by Justices BP Colabawalla and Firdosh P Pooniwalla of the Bombay High Court division bench to review the objections and make decisions by September 18 at the latest.

Zee Entertainment Enterprises Ltd. was pleading with the court against the CBFC for allegedly unlawfully and arbitrarily withholding the certificate for the movie, which was supposed to be released on September 6, Indian Express reported.

“If we were to direct CBFC to release the certificate without considering objections, we would effectively be directing CBFC to breach the order of another HC. Judicial propriety demands such a course should always be avoided. Considering these circumstances, we are of the view, as of date, we are unable to direct CBFC to release the certificate as sought for by the petitioner (Zee Entertainment) in the present petition at this stage,” the bench noted in its order.

“If it is (release of film) delayed by one week, it is not going to make any difference. We are faced by MP HC order,” the court orally remarked. “There is something else going on behind the scenes here and we do not want to get into that…If the MP HC order was not there, we would have directed to release the certificate today itself,” it added.

The petitioners claim that on July 8, Ranaut's Manikarnika Films, the co-producer, applied to the CBFC for certification for public showing on the E-Cinepramaan portal.

On August 1, the petitioners received information regarding the film's August 4 screening. The Board informed the co-producer in a letter dated August 8 that the movie might be shown in public without any restrictions and that a U/A certificate would be issued, provided certain changes were made.

The film was submitted on August 14 with the necessary edits and modifications, and on August 29, at 4:16 p.m., the co-producer received an email from CBFC confirming that the movie's CD had been successfully sealed and asking the producers to pick up a certificate from the CBFC office.

The co-producers received another email a minute later confirming that the certificate and certification number had been generated successfully. Nevertheless, the signed certificate that was supposed to be shown before the film in theatres was not given to the producers when they went to the CBFC office to pick it up.

The court stated that it was based on the complaints made against the film by specific Sikh community groups. The petitioner approached Bombay HC after receiving no response to their legal notification to the CBFC to turn over the certificate.

Senior advocate Venkatesh Dhond representing Zee Entertainment argued that the CBFC had no reason for withholding the certificate that had previously been granted. He noted that anybody who feels they have been wronged by the film has access to legal remedies under the Cinematograph Act.

In opposition to the plea, CBFC advocate Abhinav Chandrachud argued that the email-generated certificate would be meaningless because a certificate is not deemed issued unless it is signed by the chairperson. According to him, the certification procedure is still in progress because of the comprehensive submissions that some parties have made, per the orders of the Madhya Pradesh High Court.

The bench did point out that the certificate needed to be signed by the chairperson before it could be given to the producers.

The court stated that it was constrained to issue an order because it had to follow the Madhya Pradesh High Court's directive to take the film's critics' complaints into consideration. On September 19, the Bombay High Court is scheduled to hear the plea.