The Delhi High Court has decided to view two recent episodes of controversial reality show Emotional Atyachar to examine if it is vulgar and obscene and whether the Censor Board has followed the guidelines while allowing its telecast.
A division bench of Chief Justice Dipak Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna decided on the scrutiny of the programme telecast by television channel UTV Bindas, following a plea seeking a direction that it be taken off air for allegedly 'spreading vulgarity and demoting social and moral values'.
The bench asked the private channel to submit the video of the two recent episodes by next Wednesday so that it can view it and examine the content itself.
It also asked the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to place on record the guidelines as per which the ministry gave approval to the programme.
"We would like to see whether Censor Board has followed the guidelines while issuing the certificate to the channel for telecast," the bench said.
The bench was hearing a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by NGO Indraprashtha People through its president Sanjay Tiwari Ujjala. The petition alleged that "through this programme, the TV channel has been hurting the feeling of viewers, spreading vulgarity and demoting social and moral values in our society".
The programme also violated government guidelines, the PIL alleged and sought a CBI probe into its making and funding
to its organisers, contending that "the programme, a pre-recorded one, is being shown to viewers in complete violation of the right to privacy".
Terming the programme as an "organised crime", the petitioner demanded strict legal action against the TV channel and claimed that despite several representations to the concerned authorities no action has been taken. The petition also sought cancellation of the license of the channel for showing such a programme.
