Hours after a furore in the Rajya Sabha over the alleged “obscene content” of television game show Sach Ka Saamna, the government slapped a show-cause notice on broadcaster Star Plus — for “offending good taste and decency, (showing what is) not suitable for unrestricted public exhibition, and for obscenity in words”.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Ambika Soni has called a meeting with broadcasters’ bodies Indian Broadcasting Federation and News Broadcasters Association at noon on Thursday to discuss the issue.
Soni has so far favoured self-regulation over an imposed content code, but the ministry may now tell broadcasters clearly that failure to regulate content would leave the government with no option but to bring in a content code.
The ministry has found Sach Ka Saamna violative of Articles 6(1) a, d, i and o of the programming code of the Cable TV Network Act, 1995. “A show-cause notice has been issued to Star Plus in light of the Rajya Sabha discussion. The channel has been asked to respond by 4 pm on July 27,” a ministry official said.
Participants on Sach Ka Saamna — based on the highly popular but controversial American show The Moment of Truth — answer 21 questions on their personal and professional lives, with their answers matched against results of a polygraph test carried out before the filming. The prize money for an all-correct score is Rs 1 crore. The show, hosted by TV star Rajeev Khandelwal, runs Monday through Friday, and has boosted the channel’s TRPs in the very first week. Cricketer Vinod Kambli recently said on the show that he believed his friend Sachin Tendulkar could have saved him from self-destructing.
The SP’s Kamal Akhtar raised the matter in the Rajya Sabha today, saying contestants were being asked “obscene questions” about their personal lives in front of their family members. The show was against “Indian culture”, he said, and cited an instance where a woman was asked in the presence of her husband whether she had thought of committing adultery. The woman replied in the negative, but the polygraph test showed she was not speaking the truth, Akhtar said.
The MP also raised questions over the content of other shows and serials including Balika Vadhu on Colors, which he alleged showed that child marriage had some advantages. He was supported by the BJP Deputy Leader in the Rajya Sabha S S Ahluwalia and MP Najma Heptullah among others. JD(U)’s Sharad Yadav had argued last week Balika Vadhu should be taken off air.
Rajya Sabha Deputy Chairman K Rahman Khan agreed with the members and said the government should take note of this “serious” issue.
Minister of State for Parliamentary Affairs Prithviraj Chavan then told the House that the government was ready for a discussion on the subject. The notice to Star Plus followed within hours.
