India:
Indian government bans “raunchy” music videos
In April 2006 the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting of the Government of India banned “raunchy music videos”. However, in May 2006 The Times of India reports that the ban has not been implemented
Popular Indian tv channels such as Channel V, B4U, Balle Balle, MTV, iTV and MH1 were reprimanded by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting for airing “raunchy music videos” and thereby violating the Programme Code under the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995. The Ministry asked the channels not to show these videos and also to air apologies that they had broken the law and will be more careful in the future.
In an article published on 8 May 2006, Arunima Srivastava from The Times of India writes that there is no one to implement the ban of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. Consequently, such music videos are continuously being aired on Indian tv channels.
President of UP Cable TV Udyog Sangh, Rajendra Singh Raju, said to The Times of India: "We have not received any order to stop airing any kind of videos. There has been news about such a G.O. [General Order] served by the Ministry but we have only read about it in the newspapers. Unless we receive an order or a legal notice from either the Ministry or the district authorities, we are under no compulsion to forbid airing of vulgar music videos. Moreover, we can block a particular satellite channel altogether, but we can't edit the content being aired on it."
The journalist from The Times of India talked with a senior official at the Ministry who said:
"The ban is still in place. And it was for the district authorities to implement the same locally. [But] with so many tv channels, how can we keep track if each one of them is following the G.O.? And unless we are not reported of such violation, we cannot take any steps”.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry has previously banned the screening of the video ‘Kaanta Laga’ from the album ‘DJ Doll Remix’ on the basis of obscenity and vulgarity shown in the video, as well as a dozen other videos that it termed “indecent and objectionable”. This happened in 2003 and 2004.
The ‘Kaanta Laga’ music video had 20-year-old Shefali Zariwala showing off her thongs, and the Ministry had cited “vulgarity to its cheapest level” as the reason for imposing the ban on it. |
|
|
