Khushi Maheshwari, Pune
The National Broadcasting & Digital Standards Authority, or NBDSA, has been propelled to penalize some channels like Times Now Navabharat and News 18 while having to issue a warning against the Hindi news channel Aaj Tak.
The action against these channels came after activist Indrajeet Ghorpade lodged complaints on the same matter.
Times Now Navbharat has been slapped with a hefty penalty of Rs. 1 lakh. It was imposed on the channel after an anchor, Himanshu Dixit, was found generalizing all interfaith relationships as ‘love-jihad’. ‘Love-Jihad’ is a term frequently used by right-wing members and activists. It is used to refer to an alleged social fraud by Muslim males to entice Hindu females. The motive is defined as the promise of marriage to manipulate them into converting their religion to Islam.
Furthermore, Dixit was allegedly found to be cornering the Muslim community as a whole.
News 18 is under fire and a fine of Rs. 50 thousand has been imposed by the NBDSA on account of 3 shows that attempted to bring a communal angle to the Shraddha Walker case of 2022. The hosts of two of these shows were Amish Devgan and Aman Chopra. These shows also cited the Shraddha Walker murder case as an instance of ‘love-jihad’ with the intent of communalizing them.
Prominent Hindi news channel Aaj Tak, albeit not charged with a fine, has been warned for one of their programs. The program was anchored by Sudhir Chaudhary and targeted a particular minority by generalizing and deliberately highlighting acts of violence that occurred during the Hindu festival of Ram Navami.
While the NBDSA held that media channels have the liberty to organize debates on any topic under the sun, this right should not lead to the cornering or marginalization of one community based on violations made by a few members of that community.
Probing into the rampant use of the term ‘love-jihad’,’ the autonomous body said that the term should be used with caution and sincere introspection; it further stated that all inter-faith marriages cannot be given a communal color, and a Hindu woman marrying a Muslim man should not lead one to hasty accusations of ‘love-jihad’ unless it has been proven that she was forced into the union and conversion in any way.
According to the NBDSA, had these incidents been debated as singular instances, they would not be infringing on the principles of impartiality, neutrality, and objectivity. However, it is due to the generalization of these events to corner a particular community that the independent body has had to take these steps.
The News Broadcasting & Digital Authority is an autonomous and self-regulatory body put into place by news and digital broadcasters as a representative of private television news. In 2022, the authority penalized News 18 for bringing a communal angle to a news debate on hijab.