'CBFC Equipped To Perform Its Duty': Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Asking CBFC Not To Certify “Bad Girl” Movie

The Madras High Court recently dismissed a plea seeking direction to the Central Board of Film Certification to not certify the upcoming Tamil movie “Bad Girl”. Justice Bharatha Chakravarthy dismissed the plea noting the submission of the CBFC stating that till date, it had not received any application for censorship of the movie. The court added that even otherwise, the Board was equipped to perform its duty and would consider the application for censorship in accordance with law. “When the matter came up for hearing, M.Rajesh Vivekananthan, the Learned Deputy Solicitor General of India would submit that, as on date, they have not received any such movie or application for censorship. Therefore, the prayer of the petitioner as on today cannot be countenanced. Even otherwise, the Censor Board is equipped to perform its duty and they will consider the application in accordance with law,” the court said. The observation was made on a petition filed by the President of Rashtriya Sanadhana Seva Sangam, an association to create unity and friendship among all community and help economically weaker people. The organisation also works for the development of Brahmins. The organisation argued that recently, in some Tamil movies, brahmin society was shown in a degrading way with dialofues, scenes and stories against them. It was submitted that the upcoming movie “Bad Girl” was one such where the main protagonist who belonged to Brahmin community was shown getting caught up in modern culture, social evils and showed a deplorable behavious. It was submitted that the director of the movie, Vetrimaran had made the movie with the evil intention of defaming Brahmin society and its culture and ethics by pretending to show the cultural corruption in such society. It was submitted that the teaser of the movie had also sparked many debates and discussions in social media and television regarding the degrading and defamation of Brahmin society. It was submitted that the CBFC could refuse to certify a film if it degrades a race, religion, or other social group and thus it could refuse to certify the movie as the teaser itself degraded a particular social group – Brahmin community. It was informed that the organisation had sent a representation to the CBFC on January 30, 2025 not to censor the movie as per the rules but since no response was received yet, it decided to approach the High Court. Counsel for the Petitioner: Mr. T. R. Prabhakaran Counsel for the Respondents: Mr. R. Rajesh Vivekananthan, Deputy Solicitor General of India Case Title: Rashtriya Sanadhana Seva Sangam v. Regional Officer, CBFC Citation: 2025 LiveLaw (Mad) 79 Case No: W.P.No.6327 of 2025Click Here To Read/Download The Judgment

'CBFC Equipped To Perform Its Duty': Madras High Court Dismisses Plea Asking CBFC Not To Certify “Bad Girl” Movie

Upasana Sajeev

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