The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) has imposed a Rs 25,000 fine on News18 India for a video showing a few young men being publicly flogged for allegedly throwing stones at a garba dance event in Gujarat. The News18 India show was aired in October 2022. The order came on two separate complaints alleging that the show celebrated police violence against Muslim men, and also targeted and vilified the Muslim community.
The NBDSA, an independent body of television news channels, noted in an order dated February 27 that the “manner in which the debate was conducted was condemnable and the statements made by the anchor had the tendency to disturb the communal harmony in the country.” In another order passed on the same day, the NBDSA also ordered Zee News to air hourly public clarifications for 24 hours on March 6, for its anti-Muslim approach while airing a debate on ‘population explosion’ with a disproportionate focus on Muslims, suggesting that they were responsible for population growth. The channels have also been asked to take down the contentious videos from YouTube and their websites, and to remove all hyperlinks enabling access to them.
The News18 video was from the show Desh Nahin Jhukne Denge hosted by Aman Chopra and aired in October last year. The video showed visuals of a group of men being publicly flogged by a group of men purported to be policemen in Gujarat’s Kheda district. In separate complaints, Indrajeet Ghorpade and Citizens for Justice and Peace had written to the NBDSA pointing out that the channel had celebrated the police violence instead of condemning it. The complaints pointed out how some of the tickers such as ‘Gujarat ke Kheda mein Police ka Dandiya’ (Police play dandiya, a festive dance using batons/sticks in Gujarat’s Kheda) and ‘Garba par paththarbaji, aparadh ya jihaad?’ (Stonepelting on garba, crime or jihad?)
The video was uploaded on the News18 India channel with a caption that included the term ‘Love Jihad’, a bogey spread by right-wing organisations claiming that Muslim men ‘trap’ Hindu and Christian women into marrying them and force them to convert to Islam. The show alleged that the men being beaten up by the police had pelted stones at a garba event in Kheda. In its order, the NBDSA said: “The manner in which the debate was conducted was condemnable and the statements made by the anchor had the tendency to disturb the communal harmony in the country.”
“Further, the tickers which were aired during the impugned broadcast, raised rhetorical questions, thereby reinforcing the narrative created by the broadcaster and gave the impression that all Muslim men attended garba celebrations only with ulterior motives,” the order further said. It also pointed out several statements made by the anchor which “targeted, vilified and castigated the entire Muslim community for the actions of a few miscreants.” NBDSA held that by condemning the entire Muslim community for the actions of a few miscreants, it was the anchor who had given the alleged incident a communal tilt.
“NBDSA also observed that the broadcaster had failed to condemn police violence and in fact kept looping the video of the police beating the men. The thrust of the broadcast appeared to give the impression that the actions of the police were justified,” the order further said. It said that with the generalised statements on Muslims and failure to condemn police violence, the broadcaster had violated “the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards, Clause 9 of the Specific Guidelines covering Reportage pertaining to Racial & Religious Harmony and the Guidelines to prevent communal colour in reporting crimes, riots, rumours and such related incidents.”
Based on complaints filed by me and @cjpindia , News18 India has been fined Rs.25,000 by NBDSA for painting Muslim men as perverts who attend Garba events to harass Hindu women, vilifying the entire Muslim community, celebrating police violence against Muslim men. pic.twitter.com/UMISu8zbUO
— Jeet (@IndraJeet_G) February 28, 2023
In the case of the Zee News show on population growth, NBDSA in its order said that “while it was permissible for the broadcaster to conduct a debate on the issue of population explosion, however, on a perusal of the impugned programme it appears that the broadcast lacked objectivity and neutrality as it disproportionately focused only on one religion/community as being solely responsible for the population growth.” By airing unrelated visuals of Muslim gatherings and by selectively sharing statistics about the Hindu-Muslim population, NBDSA observed that it was the broadcaster who had given the issue of population explosion a communal colour. It noted that the channel had mentioned the projected population growth of Muslims selectively, without mentioning the same figure for Hindus.
Ruling that the show had “failed to abide by the principles of Impartiality, Neutrality and Fairness enshrined under the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards and the Specific Guidelines covering Reportage,” the NBDSA ordered Zee News to publicise the NBDSA’s order on its ticker once every hour between 8 am on March 6 and 8 am on March 7.