London, Aug. 17 (ANI): A Birmingham-based Sikh television channel has been reportedly slapped a fine of 30,000 pounds by communications regulatory body Ofcom for allegedly inciting violence and disorder.
Ofcom said that in a debate programme on Sangat TV guests supported an assassination attempt on a former Indian Army General, Lt Gen Kuldeep Singh Brar, which was likely to encourage or to incite the commission of crime or to lead to disorder, BBC reports.
According to the report, the show which was broadcasted on 30 September 2012 was followed by an attack on Lt Gen Brar and his wife while in London the same year.
Lt Gen Brar had led an assault on the Golden Temple in Amritsar in 1984 to clear Sikh militants from there and official figures show 400 people being killed in the attack while Sikhs around the world claim the figure to be in thousands.
However, the channel's head of programmes, Amarpreet Mann, said that the fine was unfair because Ofcom has failed to understand the feeling of the Sikhs adding that the channel will be contesting the fine.
The channel's management team earlier said that anything more than a token fine would be 'crippling' because it is a charity-based station, relying on donations from the community to survive.
Mann further said that the channel did not do anything wrong and it's independent media. And everybody has a right to speak, the report added. (ANI)
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