The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights (NCPCR) wrote a letter to the West Bengal government on November 10, Wednesday, in addition to shooting off letters to the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and UNICEF India, seeking information about eight short films on same-sex relationships scheduled to be screened at schools in West Bengal.
In the letter addressed to Hari Krishna Dwivedi, the Chief Secretary for the Government of West Bengal, the apex child rights body sought the state government’s comments on the matter. NCPCR posed identical questions to the West Bengal government that it had asked CBFC and UNICEF India to answer within 10 days of receiving the letter signed by NCPCR chairperson Priyank Kanungo.
It asked the Mamata Banerjee government whether the films have obtained certification for screening in the state or not. NCPCR also wanted to know what category of certification has been provided to the selected movies, if they obtained certification.
NCPCR further asked under which mandate the movies have been selected to be screened for minor children in West Bengal in collaboration with UNICEF, and what factors were taken into consideration for screening the films on same-sex relationships.
Like the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) and UNICEF India, the government of West Bengal has also been asked to provide this information within 10 days of receiving the letter.
NCPCR wrote to the two organisations and to the WB state government on the basis of a complaint submitted with it, based on a Times of India report published on November 9 which said that 8 short films based on same-sex relationships will be screened in schools of Kolkata to promote ‘inclusive education’. The films are to be screened after the schools are reopened.
The child rights body also wrote to UNICEF India regarding the matter, as the films are being screened in collaboration with UNICEF.
The eight short films scheduled to be screened before minors in schools in Kolkata are made by young filmmakers and have been shortlisted for the Bad and Beautiful World Film Festival organised by Prayasam, a Kolkata based NGO. Prayasam is a UNICEF partner organisation, and the filmmakers are students of Prasayam Visual Basics, a grassroots film studio supported by Adobe.
The eight films are made by four filmmakers, ‘Dwitiyo Purush’, ‘Dekha’ and ‘Dakkhina’ by Salim Sheikh; ‘Dhora Pore Gechi Aami‘, ‘Dutto‘ and ‘Deya Neya‘ by Manish Chowdhury; ‘Durbin‘ by Saptarshi Ray and ‘DumbBell’ by Avijit Marjit. The films deal with subjects like homosexuality, live-in same-sex relationship, male escort etc. There are concerns that the movies may not be appropriate for children, due to which a complaint was filed with NCPCR and it prompted NCPCR to take cognizance of the same.
