NEW DELHI: It?s a strong rap on the knuckles for sure. Two channels Comedy Central - a part of the Network18 group - and Manoranjan TV - have been pulled off the air waves following an order from the Indian ministry of information & broadcasting (I&B). Their crime: they allegedly screened inappropriate content on their channels.

Comedy Central, the I&B ministry says, telecast a raunchy comedy show called "Stand Up Club" at 20:52 hours on 26 May last year and a show called "PopCorn" on 4 July at 7:57 pm. Manoranjan TV, on its part, aired a film with an adult certificate "Ek Chatur Naar" in the afternoon on 11 February last year. While the former has been punished wih a black out order for 10 days commencing 00.01 hrs 25 May, the latter will not be visible for a week beginning 00.01 hrs 25 May 2013. This is happening at a time when the government says it wants to give self-regulation of media a chance.

Thus Comedy Central will remian off air till 00:01 hrs on 4 June while Manoranjan TV will not be transmitted till 00.01 hrs on 1 June.

While the Viacom18 company spokesperson for Comedy Central said: "Since the matter is sub-judice, we cannot comment",the Delhi high court upheld the I&B?s decision to cut the transmission of Comedy Central for airing "obscene" dialogues and "vulgar" words besides being derogatory to women.

Dismissing a plea of Viacom 18 Media against the government?s decision, Justice VK Jain said the penalty prohibiting telecast of the channel for 10 days cannot be termed as "excessive, harsh or unreasonable."

"Considering that the penalty could be the prohibition of telecast up to 30 days for the first violation and upto 90 days in case of the second violation, the penalty imposed on the channel cannot be said to be execessive or unreasonable. Even if one were to exclude the second violation i.e. telecast of the programme "PopCorn" from consideration, the penalty prohibiting the telecast for 10 days for the first violation alone cannot be said to be excessive, harsh or unreasonable," the court said referring to the policy guidelines for uplinking of TV channels from India.

The court said a persual of the impugned order would show that the CD recording of the offending programmes was previewed by the inter-ministerial committee which found it very offensive, crossing all limitations of good taste and decency.

The court accepted the additional solicitor general AS Chandhiok?s argument that under section 20 of the Cable Television Netowrks (Regulation) Act 1995, the government, in the interest of public order, deceny or morality can regulate transmission or retransmission of any programme or channel.

The order says the show on Comedy Central which had ?obscene dialogues and vulgar words derogatory of women and hence appeared to offend good taste and decency. The portrayal in the programme did not appear suitable for unrestricted public exhibition and children.?

The I&B?s inter-ministerial committee felt in the case of Manoranjan TV that this was a gross violation of the programme code and the argument of the channel that it happened due to a mistake on part of their staff cannot be accepted. Being a responsible TV channel, it should have put in place appropriate system to avoid such mistakes.

The orders in both cases have been issued under section 20(2) and (3) of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and paras 8.1 and 8.2 of the Guidelines for Uplinking from India.

In what is clearly hardening of stand, the I&B?s inter-ministerial committee has penalised five channels in the months of April and May for violation of the programme and advertising codes.

Since one channel, Movies OK, obtained a stay order on the grounds that it had been served the notice too late, the ministry took precaution and had issued the penalty notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan TV on 17 May. The other channels penalised were Mahuaa and AXN.

The I&B?s inter-ministerial committee had issued show cause notices to both Comedy Central and Manoranjan channels and also gave them an opportunity to make their representations.

Meanwhile, there was no response from Manoranjan TV despite repeated attempts.

Says a media observer: "The government?s decision is sure to upset the broadcast sector.Despite having a self-regulatory mechanism in place and their individudal standards & practices departments which scrutinises every show and script,they don?t seem to be able to understand what the government could label as offensive. Even humour is now being taken as offensive. We as a nation don?t know how to laugh at ourselves and it clearly shows with the humourless decision."