Content on streaming platforms giving rise to crimes: Bihar CM Nitish Kumar

Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar on Sunday wrote to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, making a case for imposing censorship on content available on streaming platforms, insisting that criminal activities are on the rise due to obscene and violent depictions in shows.

Kumar said incidents of crime are increasing against women and children because of the "negative impact" on the minds of people due to their exposure to such programmes.

There is no clarity in the rules regarding streaming services, an official release quoted the chief minister as saying in the letter.

The availability of "inappropriate" content without any censorship is "unacceptable", Kumar said, urging the PM to take necessary steps to bring programmes broadcast through streaming platforms within the ambit of certification under the Cinematograph Act, 1952.

Besides, the production and broadcast of such programmes having obscene and violent content should be brought under the purview of crime so that people concerned can be punished, Kumar said.

He said that several streaming service players are "uninterruptedly broadcasting shows having violence and sex" in the absence of censorship.

In December last year, Kumar had written to Modi, demanding a ban on pornographic sites.