NEW DELHI: In an affidavit presented to the Supreme Court of India, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has stated that Sudarshan News’ controversial programme Bindas Bol - UPSC Jihad is “against good taste and decency, attacks religious communities, and contains defamatory and obscene half-truths.”
"The ministry is of the opinion that while freedom of speech and expression is a fundamental right, the tone and tenor of the episodes telecast do indicate that the channel has, through the various utterances and audio-visual content, breached the programme code," MIB stated in the affidavit.
The ministry has not barred the airing of future episodes of Bindas Bol, but issued guidelines to Sudarshan TV to prevent any Programme Code violation, by ensuring that the show doesn’t offend against "good taste or decency"; doesn’t contain anything "false, defamatory, suggestive innuendoes or half-truths"; and doesn’t attack "religions or communities."
It further cautioned Sudarshan News to be careful henceforth, and if any violation of the Programme Code happens in future, the channel will be subjected to strict penal action.
“The channel should review the content of the future episodes of the programme Bindas Bol - UPSC Jihad and the audio-visual content should be suitably moderated and modified, so as to ensure there is no violation of Programme Code,” the MIB said.
The Delhi high court had stayed the telecast of the programme on August 28 and the next day had disposed of the plea with a direction to the ministry to take a decision on the prohibition of the show. It was directed to the channel and its editor to not broadcast the show till such time as the ministry makes its decision.
On 15 September, the apex court had put on hold the telecast of the show. Then on 26 October, the ministry told the apex court that it was ready with its order in relation to a show-cause notice issued to Sudarshan TV based on the recommendation of an inter-ministerial group, which had viewed all the episodes of the channel’s Bindas Bol programme.
