Transmission of “Comedy Central” banned for 10 days; Viacom to approach Division Bench against Delhi High Court’s refusal to interfere

Upholding the penalty imposed by the Central Government on Viacom 18 Media’s “Comedy Central”, the Delhi High Court held that the prohibition of transmission for 10 days starting from May 25, 2013 did not merit any interference. Dismissing Viacom 18’s petition, Justice VK Jain observed that the penalty could not be said to be “excessive or unreasonable”..The said penalty was imposed after the channel telecast an episode of “Stand Up Club” in May last year as well as an episode of “Popcorn” in July last year. Both episodes were allegedly “vulgar, obscene and offending to good taste”. Recordings of the said episodes were reviewed by an Inter-Ministerial Council who found that the programmes had crossed “all limitations of good taste and decency”..Not satisfied with Viacom 18’s replies to their show cause notice (in which Viacom said that the first telecast was an “inadvertant error” while the second telecast did not carry the proposed edits), the Government issued a direction to prohibit the telecast of the channel for 10 days. This direction was subsequently challenged before the Delhi High Court..Dismissing the petition, the Delhi High Court placed reliance on the findings of the IMC to infer that the penalty was not excessive. With respect to the offending “Popcorn” episode, the IMC’s findings are quoted in the judgment, namely:.“The prankster has held a pair of dummy legs in his hands. Precisely, he is standing opposite to a wall, between the pair of dummy legs, holding its thighs with his hands and making suggestive movements as if having sex…. Few second later, the prankster changes his location and moves closer to the camera, holding the dummy legs and still making suggestive movements.”.With respect to the offending “Stand up Club” episode, it may well be a telecast of this song written and performed by Canadian comedian Jon Lajole. The judgment quotes extensively from the findings of the IMC in this regard,.….the programme shows a man performing an act of stand-up comedy and mouthing vulgar words accompanied by obscene and suggestive gestures and gyration. During his performance, the man is shown uttering the following dialogue in a sing- song way:-“Women are stupid and I don’t respect them. That’s right. I just have sex with them. …....while uttering the word “genital” the man is shown gyrating his pelvis in a suggestive and vulgar fashion..The IMC then goes on to reproduce the text of the song to further strengthen its findings that the programme contains obscene content. Agreeing with the findings of the IMC, Justice VK Jain stated that,.Considering the highly vulgar and objectionable nature of the contents, it would be difficult to say that the penalty imposed upon the petitioner was wholly disproportionate to the violation or that no reasonable person could have awarded such a penalty for the violation of this nature..As per this post, Viacom is now planning to file an appeal against this decision..The Union of India was represented by Additional Solicitor General AS Chandhiok, while Viacom 18 was represented by Senior Advocates Dr. AM Singhvi, and Neeraj K Kaul..Update on 28 May, 2013 – A Division Bench of Chief Justice D. Murugesan and Justice Jayant Nath has temporarily lifted the ban by overturning the decision of the Justice V.K. Jain. Viacom18 Group General Counsel Sujeet Jain appeared in person before the Court and prayed for setting aside the earlier order. The Court temporarily lifted the ban till the appeal was decided while Viacom 18 has agreed not to telecast the two programmes which were the subject matter of dispute.