Angry Censor Board members send chairperson Samson legal notice

Two members of the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) advisory panel from Mumbai,Shalini Chavan,a law graduate,and Dr Asha Paranjape,an MD,jointly issued a legal notice against Samson.

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The panel members comprise people from all parts of the country and from all strata of the society and also include SC/ST members. How can all of them be painted with the same brush? Chavan said over the phone from Mumbai,noting that Samson had called them largely insensitive individuals,politically ambitious people and party workers.

Another member from Bombay,Nadeem Nusrath,who has done his M.Sc from the UKs University of Wales and BA in Economics from Bombay University,felt Samsons observations in absentia of the Censor Board are not only wrong but based on hearsay and fed on popular but erroneous assumption that advisory board members are insensitive and immune to crimes depicted against women and humanity in popular cinema.

Nusrath also claimed that it was in fact during Samsons tenure that educated individuals,professionals,including noted lecturers and academicians and working journalists,were dropped from the advisory board on the oral explanation that these members could not be given another term.

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A renowned academician from Allahabad,Asha Mishra,referred to her MA in three subjects,Ph.D and the five books she had written. Questioning Samsons own qualifications,said she would be writing to the Prime Minister,demanding her resignation. We had been given this position as a token for respect and now the Chairperson is humiliating us, Mishra said.

S P Goswami,an MA in Philosophy,said he would approach the Allahabad High Court if Samson does not issue a public apology within a week.

Sanjay Puri,a panel member from New Delhi region,said that Samson had no right to pass such derogatory remarks against the other members,who were part of the panel so to strengthen the democratic structure of the Board. Shyam Sunder,also from Delhi region,said that it was completely inappropriate on Samsons part to have issued such an insulting statement.

Samsons mail was cited in the Supreme Court Friday by advocate Jyotika Kalra as she demanded a ban on movie Grand Masti over its alleged vulgar dialogues and obscene content.

There are,no doubt,a few educated among them in every region,but 90 per cent of them are uneducated and an embarrassment to us. They cannot read nor write,cannot sign their names on the forms,leave alone read the script of the film they are watching or understand the responsibility that this empanelment entails, she had said

Chennai region member C Rajshekaran,a practising lawyer in the high court,said he had sent a legal notice to Samson.