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Guwahati:
The Gauhati High Court has eliminated a telecast ban of Assamese TV serial Begum Jaan, almost two weeks after town police banned it over allegations by Hindu teams that it inspired “love jihad”. A 10-member content material monitoring committee headed by town police chief had dominated the serial hurts non secular sentiments.
After the serial was banned for 2 months, the lead actor was trolled on social media with threats of acid assault and rape, after which the Guwahati Police got here below criticism for not performing in opposition to the threats.
The serial telecast in Rengoni TV tells a fictional story of a Hindu lady who fights in opposition to societal stereotypes with the assistance of a Muslim man.
A single-bench of Justice Suman Shyam on Thursday eliminated the telecast ban after noting that the committee banned the serial with out listening to the affected events and with out following the process below the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1994.
The court docket order got here on a petition by AM Private Television Ltd, proprietor of Rengoni TV.
The court docket mentioned the managing director of the channel ought to make sure that any content material that will damage non secular sentiment needs to be “deleted” earlier than telecast this time.
The monitoring committee didn’t have a “representative from the media”, the TV channel’s lawyer S Sarma mentioned.
“Clearly not justified in suspending the telecast of the serial by an ex parte blanket order without giving an opportunity of hearing to the petitioners to explain their stand or recording any cogent reason for doing so,” the Gauhati High Court mentioned.
Though the state authorities agreed that the monitoring committee was not fashioned below its newest pointers – which means the committee may very well be unlawful – it mentioned the committee didn’t have any bearing on the order to ban the channel because the Police Commissioner was “competent” to move the order.
The court docket, nonetheless, declined to just accept this line of reasoning. “The complaints were evidently addressed to the Chairman of the Monitoring Committee and therefore, a duly constituted monitoring committee was required to apply its mind on the merit of the complaints before making any recommendation in the matter which has apparently not been done in this case,” Justice Shyam mentioned.
Long earlier than the two-month ban was imposed on the channel, the present confronted on-line trolling and protests – largely from Hindu organisations – for allegedly selling “love jihad” and for belittling “Hindu and Assamese culture”.
“Love jihad” is a time period utilized by right-wing teams to focus on relationships between Muslim males and Hindu ladies, which, they are saying, is an elaborate ruse to forcibly convert the ladies.
The time period “love jihad” isn’t outlined below current legal guidelines and no case has been reported by any central company, the federal government mentioned for the primary time in parliament on February four this 12 months. “The term love jihad is not defined under the extant laws. No such case of love jihad has been reported by any of the central agencies,” Junior Home Minister G Kishan Reddy had mentioned in a reply to a written query.
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