Censor Board chief resigns over MSG clearance

New Delhi: Censor Board chief Leela Samson on Thursday resigned amid reports controversial film ‘Messenger of God’ featuring Dera Saccha Sauda chief Gurmeet Ram Rahim Singh in the lead role was cleared by the Film Certification Appellate Tribunal (FCAT). 

Asked if she was aware of the FCAT’s approval for the film’s screening, Samson said, “I hear so. Nothing in writing yet. It is a mockery of Central Board of Film Certification. My resignation is final. Have informed the [I&B] Secretary.”

There has, however, been no official word on the FCAT decision. The Censor Board had referred the issue of clearance to Messenger of God to FCAT. The film was slated to hit the screens on Friday.

Asked why she decided to quit, she did not specifically refer to the reported clearance to the film but alleged “interference, coercion and corruption of panel members and officers of the organisation who are appointed by the Ministry”.

According to Samson she has “had to manage an organisation whose Board has not met for over nine months as the Ministry had no funds to permit the meeting of members.”

She said the term of all the members and the Chairperson of the Censor Board “are over. But since the new government failed to appoint a new Board and Chairperson, a few were given extension and asked to carry on till the procedure was completed”.

“However, recent cases of interference in the working of the CBFC by the Ministry, through an ‘additional charge’ CEO, and corrupt panel members has caused a degradation of those values that the members of this Board of CBFC and Chairperson stood for,” Samson alleged.

Meanwhile, a spokesman of Sirsa (Haryana)-based Dera Sachcha Sauda said, “As per our information, FCAT has cleared the movie for release. But a written order is awaited.”