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MSG row: Nine censor board members resign

by IBNS 16 Jan 2015, 10:25 pm

New Delhi, Jan 17 (IBNS): A day after Censor board chairman Leela Samson quit amid controversy over the film MSG: The Messenger of God, altogether nine Censor Board members resigned on Saturday, media reports said.

“It is our firm position that given the cavalier and dismissive manner in which the CBFC (Central Board of Film Certification) is treated by the government, it is impossible to perform this duty with even a modicum of efficacy or autonomy,” the outgoing members wrote in their resignation letter to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

Alleging that the advisory panel is full of people with questionable credentials, the members further said that the attempt to make film certification transparent had become frustrating.

“This Board has consistently attempted to make the certification process more uniform, transparent, consistent and sensitive to the freedom of filmmakers' right to expression with responsibility. The struggle to do so has been extremely frustrating and disappointing…The Advisory Panel continues to be filled up with people of questionable credentials appointed directly by the Ministry, without taking the Board's recommendations into account," the resignation note said.

Samson’s resignation came following the controversy over the film “MSG: the Messenger of God” starring Dera Sachcha Sauda group chief Gurmeet Singh Ram Rahim, the clearance of which was objected by the Board.