Lok Sabha passes Bill to curb film piracy

The Lok Sabha on Monday passed a Bill to curb the menace of film piracy, revamp age-based certification given by the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) as well as uniformity in the categorization of films and content across platforms. The Cinematograph (Amendment ) Bill 2023 was passed in the Lok Sabha with a voice vote despite protests by the members of the Opposition parties over the ongoing Manipur ethnic violence. The Bill was passed by the Rajya Sabha on July 27. Speaking on the Bill, Union Minister for Information and Broadcasting Anurag Thakur said “We (the government) will do the work of stopping piracy through this Bill.” “Piracy is like cancer and we are trying to uproot it through this Bill,” Thakur said in support of the Bill, which has provisions to curb transmission of pirated film content on the internet as well as to classify films on the basis of age group, instead of the current practice of ‘U’, ‘A’, and ‘UA’. “U” is for unrestricted public exhibition and “A” is restricted to adult audiences, while “UA” is for unrestricted public exhibition subject to parental guidance for children below the age of 12 and “S” for special category audiences such as doctors and scientists. The Bill seeks amendment to the Cinematograph Act, 1952. The amendments will address the issue of unauthorized recording and exhibition of films.