Ban of smoking scenes in films and TV to be deferred till July 31

New Delhi, Apr 28 (UNI) The Delhi High Court today deferred the imposition of ban on smoking scenes, except in the old films and television programmes as notified earlier, till July 31.

Filing an affidavit before a division bench headed by Justice Mukul Mudgal the Government said it was yet to take a final decision on the issue.

Producing a copy of the gazette notification on December 2, 2005, the Ministry of Health had said ''No individual or a person or a character in cinema and TV programmes shall display tobacco products or their use except while depicting a real historical figure.'' Exception would be in the case of ''depiction of smoking scenes in live coverage of news and public meetings being telecast on TV if it is purely incidental and completely unintentional,'' said the application submitted before the court.

In case of foreign films, it was mandatory for the producer and distributor to include anti-tobacco health spots of 30 seconds to be screened at the beginning and end of the film.

In case of old TV serials, the channel would have to place an anti-tobacco health warning as scroll at the bottom.

Bollywood Director and Producer Mahesh Bhatt had challenged the Government's decision to blatant ban of smoking scenes in the movies and television serials.

In the petition, Bhatt sought to impugn the constitutional validity of the Cigarette and Tobacco Products (Prohibition of Advertisement and Regulation of Trade and Commmerce, Production, Supply and Distribution) Amendment Rules 2005.

Petitioner's Counsel Sandeep Seth had submitted that the impugned amendment rules were against the legislative intent manifested in the Cinematograph Act 1952, the Cinematograph (Certification) Rules 1983 and the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Cable Television Networks Rules, 1994.

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