After Leela Samson, Ira Bhaskar quits CBFC

Ira Bhaskar, another Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) member, resigned on Friday after Leela Samson stepped down as the board's chairperson.

Bhaskar cited the discrepancies in board as the reason for her deciding to quit.

"It is a culmination of process which has been going for a while. What is the point of extension if we are not able to function?" she told ANI here.

Bhaskar said there has been no board meeting for a year.

"We are not dependent on the board. We are professionals in our own right," Bhaskar said.

Bhaskar further said that she did not the exact controversy surrounding the film 'Messenger of God' featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh.

"I don't know what the exact controversy is over this Rahim film. I don't know," Bhaskar said.

"We always believe in dialogue and collaborative action that we should work together with the government," she added.

Former CBFC chairperson Samson had resigned earlier citing reasons of 'interference and corruption' after the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT) apparently cleared the film 'Messenger of God'.

Samson said the reasons cited are alleged "interference, coercion and corruption of panel members and officers of the organization who are appointed by the ministry."

She also said that the new government failed to appoint a new Board and Chairperson and a few were given extension and asked to carry on till the procedure was completed.

Samson also alleged that cases of interference in the working of the CBFC by the ministry, through an 'additional charge' CEO, and corrupt panel members has caused a degradation of those values that the members of this Board of CBFC and Chairperson stood for.

However, Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting Rajyavardhan Rathore earlier in the day said that the government has hands off policy when it comes to decision making at the Censor Board.

The MoS said that the entire Censor Board and its members were placed by the previous government.

"I would like to bring to the notice of everyone that the entire Censor Board and all its members were placed by the previous government and none of them have been changed, no additional members has been put in," he said.

The Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) is a statutory body under Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, regulating the public exhibition of films under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act 1952.