Green light for Sins release

New Delhi, Feb. 24: Director Vinod Pande?s Sins, a film that has triggered protests from Christians across the country, will not be banned despite an appeal by the National Commission for Minorities that the government review the film again.

Sins, which reportedly tells the story of a priest who falls in love with a woman, is slated for an all-India release tomorrow. Catholic priests are not allowed to marry and must remain celibate after joining the Church.

Tarlochan Singh, the chairman of the commission, had written to information and broadcasting minister S. Jaipal Reddy to review the film after the archbishop of Delhi, Vincent Concessao, lodged a complaint.

The government is relieved that the matter is now out of its purview. The film?s producers had gone to Bombay High Court to ensure that Sins is not banned. Today, the court passed orders saying that the film can be screened.

Sins was passed by the censor board in July 2004, with four cuts and an adult certification. The film?s producers approached the appellate tribunal, headed by a retired chief justice, asking for the cuts to be restored. The tribunal passed the film in October, upholding the censor board?s decision on three cuts but allowing one scene that had been deleted by the censors to be retained. The high court has upheld the decision of the appellate tribunal and said that Sins can be screened.

Singh admitted he had not seen the film but had written to Reddy because the archbishop, a highly respected religious leader, had filed a complaint before the commission. ?No, I had not asked the government to ban the film. All I had said in my letter to the minister is for the ministry to take a second look at Sins and decide what should be done,? Singh said.