High Court to hear Amol Palekar’s plea against pre-censorship of plays and dramas after a decade

After a decade-long wait, the Bombay High Court on Thursday (November 6, 2025) said it will hear in December a petition filed by actor Amol Palekar, seeking protection of artistic freedom, which he claimed is being violated by rules that mandate pre-censorship of scripts of plays/drama.

Mr Palekar’s lawyer, Anil Anturkar, urged a bench of Justices Riyaz Chagla and Farhan Dubash to hear the petition filed in 2016. The petitioner (Palekar) is now 85 years old and wants the result on his petition, be it positive or negative, Mr. Anturkar told the court.

The court agreed and said it would hear the petition on December 5.

The actor’s counsel said the issue was only whether under the provisions of the Bombay Police Act, the police had the power to pre-censor plays and dramas. “We are now in an era where there is no censorship on shows and series on OTT,” Mr Anturkar said.

In September 2017, the High Court had accepted Mr Palekar’s petition but since then it has never been finally heard. Mr Palekar, in his petition, has challenged rules that mandate pre-censorship of scripts of plays by the Maharashtra State Performance Inquiry Board.

In his petition, the acclaimed actor has said that the rules are ‘arbitrary’ and a violation of the fundamental rights of a citizen guaranteed under the Constitution of India.

Under Section 33(1)(WA) of the Bombay Police Act, the Commissioner of Police or the Superintendent of Police may make rules for the licensing and control of places of public entertainment (other than cinemas) and performances for public entertainment including fairs and pageants.

By these rules, for regulation in the interest of public order, decency or morality, prior scrutiny of such performances and scripts was made mandatory, after which a certificate would be issued subject to the conditions.

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“This pre-censorship curtails artistic freedom. Because of this, many historical plays have not been performed in their original form,” the petition said.