Dirty songs: Censor official pleads lack of jurisdiction over theatre CDs

Court learns the board does not monitor stage dances or songs.


Express July 01, 2011

LAHORE:


Lahore High Court (LHC) Chief Justice Ijaz Ahmed Chaudhry on Friday adjourned the hearing on a writ petition seeking a ban on the sale of compact discs (CDs) containing ‘vulgar’ dances and theatre performances till the first week of September.


Ashraf Gondal, vice chairman of the Central Film Censor Board, informed the court that it was not the Board’s duty to monitor or regulate sale of dance CDs and the performance of provocative stage dances. The Board is only responsible for censoring obscene dances from films submitted to it for certification, the vice chairman added.

The CJ remarked that this was a sensitive and serious issue requiring that all parties provide proper assistance to court.

The CJ was hearing a case, filed in 2009, against singers Naseebo Lal and Nooran Lal for singing vulgar songs and against cable TV channels allegedly spreading obscenity by running immoral videos of stage plays and dances.

Petitioner, Asif Mehmood Khan, a local lawyer, submitted that the departments concerned in connivance with other elements were violating the law.

He said Naseebo and Nooran along with other respondents were singing indecent and immoral songs. He said the shelter provided by the government to the singers under the Motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979, was illegal. The petitioner prayed for a complete ban on all audio and video recordings of songs rendered by the two singers.

Previously, the court had ordered the police to launch a crackdown against the elements involved in the illegal business.



Published in The Express Tribune, July 2nd, 2011.

 

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