Leela Samson, Ira Bhaskar Resign From CBFC; Blame Corruption In Ministry

Leela Samson, the danseuse of Bharatnatyam, who until now served as the chief of Censor Board has resigned from her post, quoting "interference, coercion and corruption of panel members and officers" as the reasons.

Another person to put her papers down is Ira Bhaskar, who served as a board member of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC), the censorship and classification body run by the Union Information & Broadcasting Ministry.

Although Ms. Samson's term for three years had officially ended in April 2014, she was serving the post until further allotment of the post by the newly framed government. Likewise, all the board members including Ms. Bhaskar were continuing till further notice.

As per reports, Ms Bhaskar had discussed resignation earlier as well, but held on because of no proper order in the censor board. She also went on to say that in the past one year, there was no official meeting by the members of the board despite the rule of a quarterly meeting by all members.

The whole ruckus has been amidst the controversy over the denial of release of the movie MSG – The Messenger of God, which features Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the lead role. The movie was granted approval overnight by Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT), which is the body one approaches after being denied approval for release by CBFC.

With two veterans putting their papers down, the road ahead is certainly not smooth for the censor board, where corruption seems to be a major issue. However, I&B minister Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore has asked for proofs from Ms Samson regarding her claims of corruption in the ministry. Let's see how things roll from here on.

Picture by PIB