NEW DELHI: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has hauled up Fashion TV for showing “indecent” and suggestive visuals, which were “not fit for viewing”.
FTV was part of five TV channels, which were issued advisories asking them not to violate the content guidelines, otherwise stricter action could be taken against them. The ministry, in its order on FTV, said the channel in a particular show had shown models in skimpy clothes, and in varying degrees of nudity and acting suggestively, which was against the laid-down programme code.
“Such indecent presentation of women’s body appeared to denigrate women was suggestive/obscene and also against good taste and decency,” the ministry order said. The channel in its defence said that “there was no nudity and content was primarily meant for FTV’s niche and core fashion and lifestyle conscious audience which understands the nuances of fashion and lifestyle.” However, the ministry asked it to be careful in future. The ministry, in its order against Sathiyam TV, raised objections against the content on a its news report on hazardous superstitious practice in ‘Morigan’ district in Assam. The ministry order said the “visuals on the report had a terrifying effect on the audience, particularly the young children and mothers”.
In another violation, a CCTV video of a shootout inside a government hospital at ‘Bhind’ district of Madhya Pradesh was shown. The visuals showed a man being chased and shot down and is found in a pool of blood, which, the order said, could hurt the sensitivities of the victim’s family as well as the viewers. In another case, a TV channel showed unedited visuals of a self immolation attempt. Another channel, Raj News, was issued an advisory for its crime news based programme ‘Koppiyam’, which in December 2014 revealed the identity of a rape victim. The order cited another case where identity of girls, who were sexually harassed, were revealed.
Yet another advisory is to Care World TV, in one its programme, discussed the graphic details of the issue of unnatural sex.
CVR English TV news channel was pulled up for showing visuals of dead sandalwood smugglers, who were killed in an encounter. The government said the visuals were “against public taste”.
Warning signal
The advisory is a warning to the channel asking it for strict adherence to the programme code, as another mistake could mean that channel would be taken off air for limited time as a punishment.