Right against Prior Censorship

Pre-censorship is the prior restraint on art or artistic work. Pre-censorship happens when the State imposes prior restraint to restrict the freedom of artistic expression through any form of art. Prior censorship of artistic work is allowed in India in specific circumstances.

In India, there have been instances of prior censorship of films. In 1970, the Supreme Court while deciding a challenge to the pre-censorship of a short film ‘A Tale of Four Cities’ refused to accept the distinction between pre-censorship and censorship in general and considered both to be within the scope of reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2). The Court found that pre-censorship is permitted under the Constitution for maintenance of public order and tranquillity.¹

However, the Supreme Court decides such cases based on their specific facts. For instance, in a 2018 judgement,² the Supreme Court ruled against prior restraint on the screening of the film Padmaavat since the requisite Censor Board permissions had been taken. Gujarat and Rajasthan governments had banned the screening on grounds of public order. The Court held that artistic expression is an inseparable part of freedom of speech under Article 19(1)(a). After the Central Board of Film Certification has already certified a film as per its mandate and internal reviewing policies, individual governments cannot exercise prior restraint on the film. 

1.  K. A. Abbas v. Union of India, (1970) 2 SCC 780 [↩]
2. Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd. v. Union of India, (2018) 1 SCC 761 [↩]