The Sindh High Court has set aside most of the board of film censorship's objections to the film Ghost School, and has directed the board to reconsider its certification within 10 days of the petitioners removing one item, identified as Item No. 7. A division bench headed by Justice Yousuf Ali Sayeed issued the order on a petition filed by the film's makers. The ruling concerns the film's public exhibition in Sindh.
Ghost School is a fictional feature about a ten-year-old girl who learns that the only school in her village has closed because of rumours that it is haunted.
What the court ordered
The board had specified eight excisions or muting in a censorship report for a certificate in the Universal (U) category. The court said that once Item No. 7 is excised, the board must reconsider certification and issue a certificate allowing unrestricted public exhibition, without any further cuts.
If the board still believes that keeping one or more of the other cuts warrants a category higher than U, it must give the petitioners a personal hearing and pass a speaking order explaining its concern for each cut, with reference to Rule 11. The board must also assign the least restrictive category that adequately addresses those concerns. Any reconsideration is limited to the objections already identified in the original decision.
Why the cuts were set aside
The court noted that the board had been directed on August 21, 2026 to record cogent and intelligible reasons for whatever conclusion it reached. In the court's view, neither the decision under challenge nor the respondents' comments did so. With no stated ground, the bench held that the excisions, other than the one the petitioners had agreed to, could not stand.
What happens next
The next step rests with the board, which must act within 10 days of the excision of Item No. 7. Any cut it keeps must be backed by a written reason, and a higher category requires a personal hearing for the petitioners. Because the order confines reconsideration to objections already raised, the board cannot add new grounds for cuts at this stage.
Aasan alfaaz mein
Sindh High Court ne film Ghost School par censor board ki zyada tar cuts khatam kar di hain. Board ko 10 din ke andar dobara faisla karna hoga, aur Item No. 7 hatane ke baad film bina mazeed cut ke dikhane ki ijazat mil sakti hai. Agar board kuch cuts rakhna chahta hai to use har cut ki wajah likhni hogi. Sindh mein film dekhne walon ke liye yeh faisla ahem hai.
