CHENNAI: The Madras High Court dismissed a PIL seeking to prohibit girls below 18 years of age to act as heroine and other adult characters in movies after the petitioner herself withdrew it.
The first bench, comprising Chief Justice Sanjay Kishan Kaul and Justice M Sathyanarayanan, dismissed the PIL after hearing arguments by counsel for the petitioner who withdrew it without stating any reason.
L Muthuselvi, State Secretary of Tamil Nadu Makkal Katchi, in her petition submitted actresses booked as heroines and other characters in movies must have completed 21 years of age as they could be apt for the character of an adult.
The actress should at least have completed 18 years of age as by then they could differentiate between good and bad in a better way. While minors are forced to act as adults, it has a great impact both physically and mentally and they lose their childhood and right to education, she submitted.
She said women themseleves were indecently represented in films and sought to know then can girls below 18 be asked to act in films. She quoted the Indecent Representation of Women Act of 1986 to butress her point.
Stating that adolescents are recognized as 18 years of age in India, she said juveniles must not only prevented from any glamorous exhibition which is alluring but not be booked as an actress before attaining the age of majority.
She also submitted that it be made mandatory that no certification be given to movies in which juveniles act as heroines and if at the time of shooting she was a minor.
She prayed for a direction to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and other authorities concerned to prohibit acting of girls aged below 18 in movies.