BackDelhi HC upholds govt’s 10-day ban on Comedy Central
Court upholds the centre’s decision to stop Comedy Central’s transmission for 10 days for airing ‘obscene’ dialogues
Premium(The information and broadcasting ministry on 17 May had asked the TV channel to go off air from 25 May till 4 June for telecasting ‘offensive’ words in Stand Up Club and Popcorn programmes on 26 May and 4 July last year.)
New Delhi: The Delhi high court has upheld the Centre’s decision to stop for 10 days transmission of an entertainment channel for airing “obscene" dialogues and “vulgar" words besides being derogatory to women.
The information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry, accepting the recommendation of an inter ministerial council (IMC) on 17 May, had asked TV channel Comedy Central to go off air from Saturday till 4 June for telecasting “offensive" words in Stand Up Club and Popcorn programmes on 26 May and 4 July last year.
Dismissing a Viacom 18 Media Pvt. Ltd plea against the government decision, justice V.K. Jain said the penalty prohibiting the telecast of the channel for 10 days cannot be termed as “excessive, harsh or unreasonable". “Considering that the penalty could be prohibition of telecast up to 30 days for first violation and up to 90 days in case of second violation, the penalty imposed upon the channel cannot be said to be excessive or unreasonable. Even if one were to exclude the second violation i.e. telecast of the programme Popcorn from consideration, the penalty, prohibiting the telecast for 10 days for the first violation alone cannot be said to be excessive, harsh or unreasonable," the court said referring to 2011 policy guidelines for up-linking of television channels from India.
A perusal of the impugned order would show that CD recording of the offending programmes were previewed by the inter ministerial council that found it to be very offensive, crossing all limitations of good taste and decency, the court said. On 17 May, the I&B ministry had prohibited transmission or retransmission of the channel for 10 days on any platform throughout India with effect from 00:01 hours on 25 May till 00:01 hours on 4 June.
The court accepted additional solicitor general A.S. Chandhiok’s argument that under section 20 of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, the government, in the interest of public order, decency or morality, can regulate or prohibit the transmission or retransmission of any channel or programme.
It rejected the channel’s argument that the decision is discriminatory as the government had not consulted the Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee (BCCC) before imposition of the penalty. PTI
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