Understanding Judgements

Understanding Judgements

Significant judgements related to the media

( extracted from a training module on media and the law prepared by the Centre for
Advocacy and Research New Delhi, 1999 )

This note makes an attempt to understand some judgements relating to films, serials etc. the judgements give important insights and often lay down the law on what is obscenity.

1. "BANDIT QUEEN" THE MOVIE

A brief history

Bandit Queen is the story of a young girl married off to a man old enough to be her father. She is beaten, raped. When she rejects the advances of the village boys, the members of the panchayat find her guilty of enticing the boys because she is of a lower caste. She is arrested and abused by the police. She is kidnapped and raped by Babu Gujjar and his gang. She is rescued by Vikram Mallah who kills Babu Gujjar and then helps her take revenge on her husband. Her rescuer is killed by an assailant Sri Ram, the leader of a gang of Thakurs who gang rapes her along with his accomplices. She is then paraded naked in front of the village and made to draw water, but no one comes to her rescue. She avenges herself upon the persecutors by joining a dacoit`s gang Baba Mustkin and killing twenty Thakurs of the village of Behmai. Ultimately she surrenders and is jailed.

The film was presented to the censor board under the Cinematograph Act. The Revising Committee of the board recommended that the film be given an "A" certificate, once some changes and modifications were made in the film.

Unhappy with this decision an appeal was filed before the Tribunal. The Tribunal, which included four lady members gave the film an "A" certificate and accordingly released it for exhibition.

A writ was filed in the High Court of Delhi. The writ asked that the certificate granted by the tribunal be quashed on the following grounds.

1. That the audience was led to believe that the character in the film was Phoolan Devi.
2. That the depiction was abhorrent and a slur on the women of India.
3. That the Gujjar community had been shown in a very depraved manner, especially in a rape scene

These were the main arguments, which was considered by the High Court when trying to judge whether or not the film should be screened. The High Court made a reference to three scenes when passing the judgement. We will look at these scenes and how the High Court and later the Supreme Court interpreted these scenes.

1. The frontal nudity scene - it ran for a full two minutes. The heroine was stripped totally naked before over a hundred villagers standing around a well and she was paraded before them with her front including her private parts exposed

It was observed that the scene was indecent within the meaning under the Cinematograph act.

2. The naked posterior of babu gujjar in the rape scene - the scene ran for a full 20 seconds. It showed sexual intercourse by the man and his physical movement with his posterior exposed.