India's new law proposes up to 3-year jail term, steep fine for film piracy

Indian Parliament on Monday passed a bill mandating a maximum jail term of three years and a fine of up to five per cent of the production cost of the film for persons involved in film piracy and circulation of such content.

The Cinematograph (Amendment) Bill 2023, which was passed by Rajya Sabha on Thursday last week, was approved by the Lok Sabha after a brief debate amid protests by the opposition demanding a statement by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Parliament on the ethnic violence in Manipur.

"We will stop film piracy through this Bill. This has been a longstanding demand of the film industry," Information and Broadcasting Minister Anurag Thakur said replying to the debate in the Lok Sabha.

This was the first substantial amendment to the Cinematograph Act 1953 since 1984 when the minimum punishment for an offence relating to a video film was introduced.

"If a film is made at a cost of Rs1,000 crore, the fine for making a pirated copy would amount up to Rs50 crore," Thakur said.

The Bill also empowers the state governments to block websites and URLs hosting pirated content under the Information Technology Act.

Thakur said earlier pirated copies of a film were made using camcorders, but with the advent of new technologies, new methods have been found to make such copies and transmit them using different platforms.

The Bill also removes section 6.1 of the Act that granted powers to the Central government to revise the CBFC certification of a film.

A senior official said this particular provision was struck down by the Supreme Court in 2000 and the Bill seeks to harmonise the law with the apex Court judgement.

The Bill passed by Parliament on Monday also has provisions to introduce three age-based certifications under the 'UA' category, namely 'UA 7+', 'UA 13+' and 'UA 16+', and to empower the Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) to sanction a film with a separate certificate for its exhibition on television or other media.

A senior official said the age-based certification was more of a guidance and it was not incumbent on theatre-owners to check age proofs of persons watching a particular movie.

Thakur said the Bill also removes the provisions for renewal of Central Board of Film Certification (CBFC) certificates after 10 years and such documents for films will now be issued for perpetuity.

Thakur said the film industry has a soft power and the government will take steps to promote it further by providing all the required facilities.