Dawn
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02:47 Sep 27, 2025
LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) has dismissed petitions filed by cinema operators seeking to extend the scope of the Motion Pictures Ordinance, 1979, to cover Over-the-Top (OTT) platforms such as Netflix and Amazon Prime, ruling that the law cannot be applied to digital streaming services. Justice Raheel Kamran, delivering a detailed 20-page judgement, observed that the ordinance was enacted in a pre-digital era to regulate films exhibited through cinematographs in cinemas and other public venues, and was not designed for online streaming services. The petitioners, including NC Entertainment (Pvt) Ltd, had argued that requiring cinemas to obtain film certification while leaving digital platforms unregulated was discriminatory and infringed their fundamental rights. They contended that censorship principles under Section 6 of the Ordinance, derived from Article 19 of the Constitution, should apply equally across all platforms to uphold social norms of decency and morality. Says extending Motion Pictures Or...