Channels get notice over Gandhi video

A clip on two channels showed an NRI, dressed as Mahatma, doing nude dance, reports Chetan Chauhan.

Updated on: Jan 12, 2007, 20:08:00 IST

None | By Chetan Chauhan, New Delhi

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Taking a serious note of two channels showing Mahatma Gandhi doing vault dance, Information and Broadcasting minister PR Dasmunsi has sought a profound public apology from the channels during prime time. Or else, the government would initiate action against the channels, he said on Friday.

On Thursday, the channels -- IBN 7 and Sahara National -- had broadcast a clip from Youtube, a web portal, showing Bangalore born Gautham Prasad dressed as Mahatma Gandhi and doing nude dance. The channels had then sought people's reaction on this bizarre clip.

A day later, Munshi directed the ministry officials to send show cause notices to the channels for denigrating and assaulting the dignity of the Father of the Nation. "The notice is for violation of the programme code that has to be followed by every television channel," said a ministry official.

Officials said, as per the down-linking guidelines, the ministry can seek an apology for violation of the programme code and if that is not done, the transmission can be suspended for a limited period.

The Youtube clip had created a flutter with Bangalore born Gautham Prasad donning Gandhi's mantle and performing a nude dance. The clip had generated mixed reaction on the internet with some supporting the act and while others equating it with the cartoon controversy.

Fearing law and order problems, the government plans to block the internet access to the clip. There were huge protests all over the country after the cartoons related to Prophet Mohammad was available on internet sites.

Email Chetan Chauhan: chetan @hindustantimes.com

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Chetan Chauhan
Chetan Chauhan is the National Affairs Editor looking into all aspects of news and features from across India. A Chevening scholar with over three decades of experience in reporting and news management, Chetan has extensively covered all important aspects of the social sector, political economy, environment and climate change nationally and internationally. He did a journalism course at the Reuters Institute of Journalism in Oxford and Digital Media training at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore. He started as a reporter with The Statesman in 1996 and joined the Hindustan Times in 2000 in the metro bureau covering environment, crime and Delhi politics. He covered hot local news, from the Jessica Lal murder case to the rebellion of Delhi Congress MLAs against then Chief Minister Sheila Dikshit, to the replacement of toxic vehicle fuel with cleaner compressed natural gas (CNG) in the national capital. Some of his stories on air pollution became part of the Supreme Court’s landmark MC Mehta versus Government of India case in the National Capital Region (NCR), forcing the government to take corrective measures. As part of the national political bureau since 2004, he covered important central sectors such as environment, education, social justice, labour, rural development, water resources, renewable energy, agriculture, broadcasting and the Planning Commission for more than a decade producing several exclusive and investigative breaking stories. His specialisation is the environment, having covered at least a dozen United Nations global conferences on climate change, biodiversity and wildlife including climate summits in Paris, Copenhagen and Bali. He also covered India’s two five-year plans ---11th and 12th and reported on drafting and execution of right based laws such as Right to Education, Right to Information and rural job guarantee law, MG-NREGA, now being introduced in new format as VG-RAM-G Act. He has in-depth knowledge of social sector issues. He was one of the first to report on tigers vanishing from Sariska and Panna wildlife reserves in 2004 and 2008, respectively, leading to the setting up of the National Tiger Conservation Authority (NTCA) and the introduction of stringent penal provisions for poaching. He has written extensively on the rising human-animal conflict in India and the degradation of India’s biodiversity hotspots because of mining and other activities. Since 2004, Chetan has covered Parliament comprehensively and participated in training on the nuanced coverage of Parliament proceedings. He has travelled extensively across India to cover national and provincial elections since 1998, especially in the Hindi heartland states, considered India’s road to power. He writes a regular column for Hindustan Times, Ecostani, on important national politics, economy, Himalayan ecology and environmental issues. His other responsibilities include providing inputs for edits and edit page articles for the publication, apart from managing news flow from across India.Read More

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