News channel banned for a month for airing engineered sting operation

Sep 21: Under the clause of section 20 of Cable Television Networks and regulation act, 1995 for the first time Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has imposed a prohibition of transmission all over the county on a news channel named ‘Live India’ which aired a fake sting operation of a teacher of a school based in Delhi Daryaganj for a month.

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This is first time that a news channel has been banned. This is to be known that around three weeks ago a sting operation exposing Uma Khurana, a teacher of mathematics in Sarvodaya Vidyalay, as running a sex racket and forcing her girls-students to prostitution was aired which was later found to be an engineered one by the journalist, Prakash Singh.

Prakash who has now been arrested by the police, used her companion to pose as the victim who police said was an aspiring journalist. Prakash has been arrested on the ground of cheating, fabricating false evidence.

Court granted bail to the girl who assisted him in the operation saying that she is also a victim of the operation.

The information and broadcasting ministry has banned the channel for airing report which was “defamatory, deliberate and false”. Malicious statements harmed the reputation of the individual without having solid facts that is ‘half-truths’, inciting violence, and disturbing law and order which damaged the government property for banning the channel for a month.

Another basis given by the ministry was that it criticised, maligned and slandered an individual in person and denigrated children.

Ministry also held that channel irresponsibly aired it without the verification of facts.

Already Uma Khurana has been re-instated in her job by the order of the court.