India's western Goa state seeks ban on The Da Vinci Code

May 16, 2006, 13:10 GMT

New Delhi - India's western Goa state said Tuesday it would approach the country's censor board to 'censor or stop' the release of the controversial film The Da Vinci Code, news reports said.

'The government has taken cognizance of a letter by an organization named the Catholic Association of Goa which feared this movie would hurt the sentiments of Christians,' Goa State Chief Minister Pratapsinh Rane was quoted by the PTI news agency as saying.

India's Censor Board on Monday cleared the film for release on May 19 despite opposition by Christian groups in several parts across the country.

Rane said since it was not within the state's purview to ban the film, the Goan government would approach the censorship board to stop its release in the state.

Goa, formerly a Portuguese colony, has a substantial Roman Catholic population. Nearly 40 per cent of its 1.3 million population is Catholic.

Christians in western Mumbai city have also stepped up their protests against the board's decision.

Joseph Dias, head of the Catholic Secular Forum, has launched an indefinite hunger strike until the film is banned, the Mumbai Mirror reported.

According to local media, Muslim bodies in Mumbai have also supported the Catholic groups, saying the film spread falsehoods about the life of Jesus Christ.

The controversial film, starring Oscar-winning actor Tom Hanks, is based on the best-selling novel by US author Dan Brown.

The novel challenges traditional teachings about the life of Jesus by saying he was married and fathered a child.

The book's plot is a murder-mystery involving a conspiracy by Opus Dei, a real-life conservative Catholic group, to cover up the truth about Jesus' bloodline.

Roman Catholics make for a majority of the Christian population in India. Christians form 2.4 per cent of India's billion-plus population, 82 per cent of whom are Hindu and 12 per cent Muslim.