Star Plus replies to I&B notice on Sach ka Saamna

Star Plus has replied to the Ministry for Information and Broadcasting show cause notice issued to it last week for the controversial show Sach Ka Saamna.

I&B Ministry had issued a show cause notice to Star Plus for Sach Ka Saamna last week after there was a furore in Rajya Sabha over the programme.

The controversial reality TV show was on Monday once again debated in Rajya Sabha and MPs demanded that it be banned.

The programme has been in trouble after MPs from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) and Samajwadi Party (SP) complained that it was obscene and against Indian culture.

Communist Party of India-Marxist politburo member and MP Brinda Karat called for a regulatory body to keep an eye on TV programmes. She only criticised many TV programmes calling them casteist and vulgar.

"It is the utter failure of media. There is no media self regulatory body to control this. Parliament has to take it up and we say no more of this superstition and caste biased content. It is abhorrent. It is time the government should come up with independent body to monitor programmes. We are not for moral policing but freedom cannot be misused. We should set up a regulatory authority," said Brinda during a debate in Rajya Sabha.

BJP Spokesperson Ravi Shankar Prasad too demanded a regulatory body to regulate TRPs.

"The government needs to take notice of what goes on air. It is high time we have an autonomous regulatory body to regulate TRPs. TRPs should be monitored on a monthly basis and not on an hourly basis," said Prasad.

I&B minister Ambika Soni, while participating in a short-duration discussion on "increasing obscenity and vulgarity in television programmes in Rajya Sabha, said her ministry has sent around 278 notices to TV channels over the last few years for various reasons".