Govt hands out 30-day suspension to channel which had aired Kirit Somaiya videos

Kamlesh Sutar, editor-in-chief of the channel, announced news of the suspension in a YouTube broadcast, declaring that Lokshahi Marathi was paying the price for taking a fearless stand on issues. Ganesh Naidu, whose son is a director of the channel, said they would go to court

The information & broadcasting ministry on Tuesday suspended the licence of Marathi news channel Lokshahi for 30 days, citing alleged violations of rules. Last July too, the channel was ordered to shut for three days after a story in which explicit videos, purportedly of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, were aired. At that point, the Delhi high court had stayed the I&B ministry’s order.

Last July too, the channel was ordered to shut for three days after a story in which explicit videos, purportedly of former BJP MP Kirit Somaiya, were aired. (HT Archives)

Kamlesh Sutar, editor-in-chief of the channel, announced news of the suspension in a YouTube broadcast, declaring that Lokshahi Marathi was paying the price for taking a fearless stand on issues. Ganesh Naidu, whose son is a director of the channel, said they would go to court. “We did not show any body parts of Kirit Somaiya when we did the story,” he said. “All channels indulge in these tactics. They are singling me out.”

The January 9 order of the I&B ministry cites technical points to suspend the channel. Pointing out that Zora Traders Ltd was granted permission to uplink and downlink the channel, it says that as per Clause 32 of the Uplinking and Downlinking Guidelines, a TV channel or a teleport can be transferred to another company only with prior approval of the ministry, and under the situations mentioned in the said clause. “In case of any violation, the permission of the TV channel can be suspended or cancelled,” says the order.

The condition on which permission is given is that the company will develop its own content for news and not source it from a third party. The order says that after a preliminary enquiry, it was observed that Lokshahi Marathi’s content was being received by the teleport operator, viz Broadcast Equipment Pvt Ltd, from a studio in Andheri. “The studio’s address coincides with that of a non-permitted entity, Swaraj Marathi Broadcasting LLP, which claims ownership of the channel Lokshahi Marathi on various websites,” says the order.

The I&B ministry had sent two show cause notices to the channel in 2023, and also sought ledger accounts and employee details. It said that in the documents submitted by the broadcaster, the Andheri studio was seen to have been taken on rent by Swaraj Marathi Broadcasting LLP (SMB).

The employees of the channel too were on SMB’s payroll as verified by a submission from Zora Traders Ltd dated November 27.

The order observed that Zora Traders Ltd neither possessed the basic infrastructure for content creation such as a studio and fixed assets nor did it incur any expenditure on manpower to develop content. “The entire process of content creation was done by Swaraj Marathi Broadcasting, which is not a permitted entity,” says the order.

The ministry has directed the company to take corrective measures to ensure that the entire activity of the channel is under its own control and demonstrate this through a future roadmap. Only after this, it says, will the channel be allowed to resume operations.

Naidu said the owner of both companies was the same person. “We will fight and not be cowed down,” he concluded.