Govt cracks the whip on Big Boss, Rakhi ka Insaaf

Faced with mounting complaints from television viewers and women outfits about objectionable contents, the government has ordered channels airing TV shows 'Big Boss' and 'Rakhi ka Insaaf' to broadcast them only between 11 pm and 5 am, virtually bracketing them as only for adult viewing.

Both the shows are not for universal viewing and can be aired only in the scheduled time slot, Information and Broadcasting Ministry officials said.

I&B officials claimed this is the first time that the ministry has compulsorily changed time slots of popular TV shows.

While 'Big Boss' is being aired on Colours, 'Rakhi ka Insaaf' is aired on NDTV imagine.

Colors, however, aired 'Big Boss' at 9 pm claiming that it had not received the order. The I&B ministry has taken serious note of the "defiance" by the channel and have called them over for a meeting on Thursday, a senior official said.

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The shows cannot also be repeated at any other time slot or shown on news programmes, they said.

The ministry also banned Telugu SS Music channel for a period of seven days for allegedly showing nudity.

The decisions were taken at an inter-ministerial meeting represented at by additional secretaries from the Ministry of Home, Women and Child Development, External Affairs and Information and Broadcasting on Monday.

Numerous complaints have been made by viewers as well as the National Commission for Women and social activists who accused the channels of showing explicit content.

The decision would be effective with immediate effect that is from Wednesday, the officials said.

"We have not asked the producers of the show to modify content or have not done any sort of censoring, just shifted the time slots allotted to them," senior ministry officials said.

The meeting had been called after round-the-clock monitoring of the channels.

'Rakhi ka Insaaf', compared by actor-dancer Rakhi Sawant, hit the spotlight after Laksham Prasad, a resident of Jhansi, committed suicide, which his family alleged, was following the humiliation meted out to him on the show.

His family said the youth was upset after Rakhi described him as 'impotent' and had gone into depression and refused to eat anything for several days.

Complaints have also been received about the "abusive" language and intimate scenes on 'Big Boss', the officials said.

However, the industry is divided over I&B ministry's decision to give an 'A' certificate to the two reality shows Rakhi Ka Insaaf and Bigg Boss. While some support it, others think that the concerns are baseless.

Theatre personality and ad guru Alyque Padamsee slammed the decision, saying "It is a typical reaction. Next they will say we cannot have Kaun Banega Crorepati as it teaches kids to run after money."

Sources at the two channels Imagine and Colors, who air Rakhi Ka Insaaf and Bigg Boss 4 respectively, have refused to comment on the issue until the notice formally reaches them.

Aspiring actor Rahul Bhatt, who got evicted from Bigg Boss two weeks ago, said, "It is great. I am in full support of this decision. A lot of vulgar things happen on the show and it is certainly not for the general public to view."

His words were echoed by lawyer Abbas Kazmi, another former Bigg Boss contestant.

"It is a proper decision. If the content is not according to our culture, it should be aired only for an adult audience."