ORDER:- This order shall also dispose of Criminal Applications Nos. 470/ 83, 471/83, 479/83, 480/83, 483/83 and 558/83. In all these petitions, the petitioners are the proprietors of cafe and restaurants which are being run in different parts of the State of Maharashtra. The petitioners are exhibiting films in their restaurants to their customers, free of charge, through Video and T.V. sets. According to them, the exhibition of cinema, free of charges, to the customers with the aid of magnetic tape cannot come under the provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952. They have further stated that the Video Cassette Recorder, popularly known as VCR, is designed to record sound and pictures in both black and white as well as colour on magnetic tape. The tape that is used is a magnetic tape without having nitrocellulose or some other synthetic base and, therefore, cannot be called "film" as the word was understood when the Cinematograph Act, 1952 was enacted. According to them, at that time, the film meant a sheet or ribbon of celluloid or the like prepared with the coating for ordinary photographs or for instantaneous photographs by projection by cinematograph.

2. Mr. Padhye has invited my attention to the definition of "cinematograph" and "film" as given in the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

"2 (c) "Cinematograph" includes any apparatus for the representation of moving pictures or series of pictures."

"2 (dd) "Film" means a cinematograph film."

The only point which Mr. Padhye seriously pressed was that the Cinematograph Act was enacted in the year 1952 by the Parliament when VCR and TV were not introduced in India. Therefore, according to him, the Legislature could not have intended to include VCR and TV within the meaning of "cinematograph" as defined under the Act. According to him, we cannot read in the definition something which was not in existence in the country and, therefore, the Legislature could never have intended to include such instruments and appliances which were almost unknown in India. He has further submitted that the only method that was known in the year 1952 was sheet or ribbon of celluloid or the like Prepared with the coating for ordinary photographs or for instantaneous photographs by projection by cinematograph and, therefore, VCR and TV sets cannot be included within the definition of "cinematograph."

3. Mr. S.A. Jaiswal, Advocate, appearing for one of the petitioners, has adopted the arguments advanced by Mr. Padhye.

4. Mr. Sinha appearing on behalf of the State, has taken me through the various provisions of the Cinematograph Act, 1952 and the Bombay Cinemas (Regulations) Act, 1953 and the rules made thereunder. However, in view of the limited challenge raised at the time of argument, it may not be necessary for me to discuss all the provisions referred to by Mr. Sinha. According to Mr. Sinha, the definition of "cinematograph" is wide enough to include VCR and TV and to hold otherwise, would mean doing violence to the plain language used in the definition. According to him, the definition is not restricted to projectors ordinarily used in cinema for showing photographicals. He has submitted that when VCR is used for playing prerecorded cassettes of movies on TV screen, it is certainly used as an apparatus for representation of moving pictures or series of pictures and comes within the definition of Cinematograph Act. Hence, exhibiting movies by playing pre-recorded cassettes in VCR in cafe and restaurants comes within the ban contained in Section 3 of the Bombay Cinemas (Regulations) Act, 1953.

5. Another limb of the arguments of Mr. Sinha was based on Ss.6-A and 7 of the Cinematograph Act according to which, no film other than a film certified by the Board can be exhibited and any contravention thereof, is punishable under S.7 of the Act of 1952. He has vehemently argued that the films which are being exhibited by the petitioners are not certified and censored. Yet another limb of his arguments was that in the year 1

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