Union govt says 'UPSC Jihad' show in Sudarshan TV could promote communal violence

Supreme Court, on Thursday, November 19, adjourned the hearing of the case of the controversial show 'UPSC Jihad' of Sudarshan News TV run by Suresh Chavhanke by two weeks. Justice D.Y. Chandrachud and Justice Indu Malhotra headed the bench.

Earlier on Wednesday, November 18, the Union Ministry of Information and Broadcasting filed an affidavit before the Supreme Court stating that, "the controversial 'UPSC Jihad' episode of TV show 'Bindas bol' is offensive ,not good in taste and has the potential to promote communal attitudes towards the particular community"

Ministry passed this order after receiving the complaints about the show being "allegedly communal" and deliberately done to put Muslim community and their success in civil services examination in bad light, terming it as UPSC Jihad.

Bar and Bench reported that the order passed by I & B Ministry which was placed before the court on Wednesday asserted that although freedom and expression is a fundamental right but the content of the program breached the program code. The hearing of the case was scheduled for Thursday.

The ministry also proposes that the channel should review the content of the remaining shows which are yet to be aired. There are total 10 episodes of the show out of which 4 episodes were telecasted and the remaining 6 were barred by Supreme Court on 15 September. The ministry has asked the channel to modify the content to be telecasted and present more moderated shows in order to abide by the programme code and conduct.