After nearly a decade, the Bombay High Court on Thursday decided to finally take up for hearing actor and filmmaker Amol Palekar’s petition challenging rules that require pre-censorship of play scripts by the Maharashtra State Performance Scrutiny Board.
A bench of Justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash scheduled the matter for hearing on December 5, following a request from Palekar’s counsel, senior advocate Anil Anturkar, who urged the court to take up the case filed back in 2016.
“The petitioner is now 85 years old and wishes for a conclusion to his long-pending plea — positive or negative,” Anturkar told the bench.
The petition questions whether the police, under the Bombay Police Act, has the legal authority to impose pre-censorship on dramas and plays. “We are now in an era where there is no censorship of shows and series on OTT platforms,” Anturkar remarked during the brief hearing.
The High Court had admitted Palekar’s petition in September 2017, but it remained unheard for years.
In his plea, the veteran actor has argued that the rules mandating prior scrutiny of theatrical scripts are “arbitrary” and infringe upon the fundamental right to freedom of expression guaranteed under the Constitution.
Under Section 33(1)(wa) of the Bombay Police Act, the Commissioner or Superintendent of Police is empowered to frame rules for licensing and controlling places of public amusement and performances. These include provisions that require scripts to be pre-approved by the authorities in the interest of public order, decency, or morality.
According to the petition, such prior scrutiny “leads to curtailment of artistic freedom” and has prevented several historically significant plays from being performed in their original form.
Palekar, a noted figure in Indian theatre and cinema, has long advocated for the autonomy of artists and playwrights. His 2016 petition seeks to strike down the colonial-era practice of pre-censorship, which he says has no place in a modern democracy that values creative liberty.
The High Court’s upcoming hearing in December is expected to address whether the state’s censorship framework for theatre performances stands in violation of constitutional guarantees of free speech and expression.
