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Sudarshan News show may fan communal issues: Centre
The Centre issued a show cause notice on September 23 to the channel for an alleged violation of the programme code on September 23, eight days after the Supreme Court stayed the telecast of the remaining episodes of the controversial TV series while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Firoz iqbal Khan.
The Centre found the controversial television series “Bindas Bol– UPSC Jihad” telecast by Sudarshan News to be in bad taste, offensive and likely to promote communal issues according to a November 4 order issued to the channel by the ministry of information and broadcasting, which has been reproduced in an affidavit filed by the ministry before the Supreme Court on Wednesday.
The Centre issued a show cause notice on September 23 to the channel for an alleged violation of the programme code on September 23, eight days after the Supreme Court stayed the telecast of the remaining episodes of the controversial TV series while dealing with a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by Firoz iqbal Khan.
The Centre constituted an Inter Ministerial Committee (IMC) that examined all the material submitted by the channel . The Committee submitted its conclusions to the ministry of information and broadcasting on October 1, following which the latter held another round of hearings with the channel executives.
Finally the ministry decided that, “the manner in which the channel has gone about its exposition, including its comments on the selection process, examination system of the Civil Services, portrays one community and Union Public Services Commission (UPSC) in bad light, and the channel could well have avoided utterances and videos which were not in good taste or decency.”
The channel argued that the programme was not intended to target the Muslim community but focused on the activities of one Zakat Foundation of India that was financing the coaching of Muslim students with an intention to capture the Indian bureaucracy and the country.
The ministry concurred with the finding of the IMC that the issue of alleged terror links of Zakat Foundation of India and its source of funding were disputed facts, requiring a full investigation to adjudicate the veracity, truthfulness or falsity of the claim made in the programme.
The ministry’s order said, “While freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right, the tone and tenor of episodes telecast do indicate that the channel has through the various utterances and audio-visual content breached the Programme Code. The Ministry finds that they are not in good taste, offensive and has likelihood of promoting communal attitudes. ”
The Ministry cautioned Sudarshan to be careful in future and asked the channel to review, modify and moderate the content of the future episodes to ensure there is no violation of the programme code.
The apex court is expected to take up this affidavit on Thursday and the order of November 4 will remain subject to final orders to be passed by the Supreme Court in the PIL proceeding. Solicitor General Tushar Mehta will be appearing for the Centre to explain the findings arrived at by the ministry.
The apex court on September 15, stayed the telecast of the remaining episodes of the Bindas Bol show . The PIL petitioner informed the Court that the Centre had previously found no violation of the programme code and allowed four episodes of the controversial series to be aired. When the court started examining the issue of whether the channel could be permitted to air content that portrayed a certain religious community in bad light, the Centre issued a show cause notice to the channel.
