Control TV habits, not TV content

The honourable Bombay High Court, in its infinite wisdom, has decreed that U/A movies are suitable for ‘unrestricted public viewing’.

About whether the films under U/A certification can be treated as ‘unrestricted public viewing’, the court yesterday observed that the films under U and U/A certification are the same class of films-open for “unrestricted public exhibition”. The only difference is U/A is with a word of caution to parents (proviso) or guardians of children to decide whether the child should be permitted to see the film or not.
[source: Cybernoon.com. For a brief explanation of Indian film censor ratings, click here.]

That’s fine. But the above clarification by the court states very explicitly that the parents/guardians of children should decide whether the child should be permitted to see the film. Doesn’t that make the parents responsible for the content their children are exposed to on television? So if a parent has to decide whether the child can watch a particular movie on TV, surely he/she can make a similar judgement in case of an Adult movie. Why are the parents deemed fit to make one decision but not the other? The court’s pronouncement does not explain this. Or if it does, can someone please enlighten me?

In my opinion, the entire issue boils down to parental control over their children’s viewing habits. It’s an important part of parental duties towards their children to ensure that the kids are not exposed to undesirable influences in their formative years i.e. until they are mature enough to understand the consequences of the decisions they take. Parents cannot shy away from this responsibility and expect the government/courts to do it for them. And the government/courts should not take on such responsibility as it has a bad habit of creating unwarranted precedents.

How different is an ‘A’ rated movie shown over a TV channel different from an ‘A’ rated movie screened in a theatre? Does an underage person automatically see a blank screen when he buys a ticket and enters a theatre? Or does he get debarred at the entrance by a person regulating entry? Shouldn’t this be the same at home? (pull)Parents should prevent their kids from seeing movies that are rated ‘A’.(/pull) Is there rocket science here?

One can argue that practically speaking, parents are not always around. And that this is what separates TV from the big screen. Agreed. But only to an extent. In that case, instead of a blanket ban (ouch!… that word hurts, especially if you’re an Indian blogger these days!) on ‘A’ rated movies, can we not perhaps regulate the timings during which one can safely assume that parents would be around to control their kids’ TV viewing? Perhaps, 8 PM to 8 AM. And then, features like ‘Child Lock’ on set top boxes of digital TV services like DTH or CAS would ensure control when parents are away. Surely this could be a workable solution… or at least a start in the right direction.

But somehow, common sense mixed with a sense of technology is not so common. And that leads to drastic measures like bans. Bans have no place in a free society. For those who claim that the court was only acting within the confines of the law while delivering its 21st December ‘05 judgement, I can only say that laws, that add arbitrary caveats to the basic freedoms enshrined in the constitution, themselves need to be questioned. This is necessary because laws can be added, amended and removed by successive governments of varying ideologies, paying heed to their political compulsions. It then should fall to the judiciary to intervene to ensure that the provisions of the constitution are not diluted in letter or spirit.

Finally, just to give an analogy (which may or may not be relevant)… if letting a kid drive a vehicle on the road is dangerous and something to be discouraged (and ohh guess what… there is a law too!), then should we go ahead and completely ban vehicles from our roads?!?

PS: For a great article on freedoms that we ought to enjoy as citizens of a free society, do check out Amit’s article, ‘Transforming India’s Mental Landscape‘