I-B Ministry bans Live India channel

The ban prohibits the channel's transmission and re-transmission throughout the country till Oct 20.

Live India news channel has been banned by the government after it came under the scanner for its alleged 'fake' sting operation implicating a school teacher in a sex racket in the Capital.

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The ban, effective from Thursday, prohibits transmission and re-transmission of 'Live India' (the new name for Janmat TV), on all platforms throughout the country till October 20.

The Information and Broadcasting ministry invoked Sub-section 2(iv) of Section 20 of Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995, which says the government can ban a channel in the interest of "public order, decency or morality."

An official statement here said the government took action on "the satellite channel namely 'Janmat' (assumed name Live India)" which telecast an "admittedly doctored" sting operation on Uma Khurana, a Sarvodaya Kanya Vidyalaya teache, in Darya Ganj.

"The telecast of said sting operation was defamatory, deliberate, false and contained suggestive innuendos and half-truths; incited violence and contained content against maintenance of law and order," the statement said.

"It criticised, maligned and slandered an individual in person and it denigrated children and was irresponsibly aired by the channel without exercise of due diligence in preliminary verification of the facts of the case," it said.