NDTV Imagine gets a warning on Bandini

NDTV Imagine has got a warning from Information and Broadcasting Ministry for having telecast an episode of the TV series Bandini on March 4 which "offended against good taste and decency.

This related to the showing of visuals of a poor girl being tortured by another woman. The contents of the episode also appeared to be "portraying women in a negative role."

After considering the reply of the channel to a show cause notice issued on 28 July and placing it before the Inter-Ministerial Committee examining the content of TV channels, the Ministry has advised the channel to strictly adhere to the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act and "resist from showing programmes which portray women in negative light."

The channel was told that "strict compliance to above direction should be ensured by NDTV Imagine Channel. Any further violation may entail stringent action."

The channel had in its reply on 10 August stated that the story of the programme Bandini revolves around a Gujarati "Mahiyavanshi' family residing in a fictional village called Dharampur in Gujarat.

In the episode, Santoo was shown recollecting the harassment meted out towards her by Tarulataben who had accused Santoo of stealing a gold earring. However, nowhere in the episode had the torture meted out by Tarulataben on Santoo been glorified or hyped, the channel had explained.