News Desk: Film producer Nilesh Navalakha made a complaint against the Hindi news channel ‘Aaj Tak’ for making ‘defaming, distasteful and insensitive’ remarks on the Indian Army. The Hindi news channel also made insensitive coverage of the death of film actor Sushant Singh Rajput. The fiml producer made the complaint before the Ministry of Information of Broadcasting seeking suspension of the news channel.
News anchor Ms. Sweta Singh and her colleague Mr. Rohit Sardana during a discusion of the India-China stand off made unpleasant remarks against the Indian Army.
The following remarks were made:
“This is the responsibility of the Army. You can’t blame the government for this”
“Chinese incursion into the Indian Territory is not just government’s fault, but also Army’s as patrolling the border are not government’s responsibility”
“this isn’t a situation where you ask questions after something had occurred. There are a few questions to be answered here. Firstly, if the People’s Liberation Army entered Indian Territory and our soldiers were sleeping, then it’s on the Army and not on the government because the government is not on patrolling duty, the Army is”.
The complaint which was sent through advocates Rajesh G Inamdar and Amit Pai states that the broadcast “clearly attacks the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the State, public order, decency or morality and in no manner fits in the realm of freedom of the press”.
The complaint also states that the remarks made by the anchors can affect the morale of the Armed Forces and can also cause hindrance in the formulation of strategic protocols.
The complaint also states that the coverage of Sushant Singh Rajput’s death by the channel was also very insensitive. Immediately after the actor’s death, the news channel published “How Did He Hit Wicket” and also published pictures of his dead body. Also, the reporter of the channel covering the news of the late actor’s death, bombarded Sushant’s family members with insensitive questions.
The complaint states that the news channel clearly violates Section 5 of the Cable Television Networks Act,1995(Cable Act); Rule 6(a),(c),(d),(e),(h),(i) of the Cable Television Network Rules 1994, the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards(“Code”) and News Broadcasting Standards Regulations(“Regulation”). The complaints remind that provisions under the Cable Television Networks(Regulation) Act of 1995, 1994 Rules and the Policy Guidelines for Uplinkingg of Television Channels, gives the government the power to suspension/cancellation of uplinking-downlinking license of any channel in the country.
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