Delhi High Court views episode of Emotional Atyachaar

NEW DELHI: An episode from the reality show, ‘Emotional Atyachaar", was viewed in the Delhi High court today as the Chief Justice wanted to examine the allegation that the programme is vulgar.

The 30-minute episode about gays and sex change issue was shown in the chamber of the Chief Justice Dipak Misra in the presence of counsel for the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, UTV-Bindass TV, and the petitioner Sanjay Tiwari Ujjala.
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The Court directed the Ministry to view another episode and inform the Court by 11 August whether it was within the parameters mentioned in the Self Regulatory mechanism adopted by the Indian Broadcasting Foundation and approved by the Government.
 
The petitioner claimed that the reality TV show ‘Emotional Atyachaar‘ is really an ‘emotional atyachaar on the viewers‘ as it is nothing more than infringing the privacy of individuals and spreading vulgarity.

The petitioner through his counsel Rahul Mehra claimed that the TV show had bypassed all norms of decency and was showing indecent scenes where viewers of varied age groups ranging from children to women and senior citizens were exposed to them. He said the show causes deep hurt to the people and is a blot on civilized society.

The Court asked the Ministry whether any pre-censorship mechanism was being observed when allowing the shows to be aired on TV channels. Appearing on behalf of the Ministry, Rohit Agrawal said there are no formal rules or parameters
for TV channels except the self regulatory mechanism adopted by the electronic channels.

Any action against a channel is taken only if there is any complaint for showing vulgar or any other prohibited material, he added.

Ujjala represents an NGO Indraprastha People which is seeking a ban on the reality show as it is allegedly spreading vulgarity and demoting social and moral values. He alleged that by airing this programme, the channel has violated the norms and morality guidelines laid down by the government.

The Court - which took cognisance of the petition in February - had on 14 July decided to see two recent episodes of the reality show and said that a division bench of Misra and Justice Sanjiv Khanna would also examine whether set guidelines have been followed while allowing its telecast.