Cracking the whip against alleged vulgarity, objectionable and “adult” content on television reality shows, the information and broadcasting ministry has directed the Colors and NDTV Imagine channels, which air Bigg Boss and Rakhi ka Insaaf respectively, to telecast these programmes only between 11 pm and 5 am.
Official sources said this decision was taken after it was discovered that the content of these programmes could not be bracketed as “universal viewing” and was really for “adult viewership”. This is the first time that the I&B ministry has issued a directive to TV channels making it mandatory for them to change the time slots of television shows found to have content unsuitable for a general audience. The change of time slots should be with immediate effect, the directive said.
Official sources said the partial telecast of these programmes on news channels as news content had also been prohibited in any time slot other than that earmarked by the ministry.
Another I&B ministry directive issued on Wednesday banned the Telugu SS Music channel for seven days for allegedly depicting nudity.
The Bigg Boss show has been generating controversy ever since this season started due to several controversial participants such as Devinder Singh, who is an alleged thief; Rahul Bhatt, whose name cropped up over his supposed proximity with David Coleman Headley, the alleged mastermind behind the 26/11 attacks in Mumbai; and notorious dacoit Seema Parihar. The reality TV show also came under fire for use of abusive language and intimate scenes in its episodes.
The other show, Rakhi ka Insaaf, was recently in the news after a participant, Laksham Prasad, committed suicide. His family members alleged that Prasad was forced into this after being “humiliated” on the show. It is learnt that the ministry was approached by some civil society groups, NGOs and several members of Parliament who objected to the telecast of “adult and indecent content” on these programmes. The directive followed an inter-ministerial meeting on Monday between additional secretaries from the ministries of home, women and child development, external affairs and information and broadcasting, sources added.
Official sources said that the I&B ministry wanted the TV channels to follow “self-regulation” while airing such shows. “The producers haven’t been asked to modify content or had censorship imposed on them. Only the time slots allotted to them have been shifted,” the sources added.
The Congress Party appeared to express support for the I&B ministry’s decision, and party spokesperson Manish Tewari said on Wednesday: “If they do not follow any code of conduct, then the government machinery will have to look into it and act on the complaints coming about their content.”