NBDSA Directs Broadcaster TV 18 To Remove Interview Of Dhirendra Shastri 'Promoting Superstition', 'Divisive' Religious Statements

The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority (NBDSA) on Monday (November 4) directed news broadcaster TV 18 Broadcast Ltd to remove in seven days a video interview of Dhirendra Shastri, also known as Baba Bageshwar from the website of its channel–News 18 India and Youtube, after noting that Shastri made "claims promoting superstition" and statements "concerning Hindu Rashtra and religion which were divisive in nature". 

The authority in its order, which was passed on a complaint made by Indrajeet Ghorpade, observed that while broadcasters have the "editorial freedom to invite any person as a guest in any of its programme(s)" however, this freedom has to be exercised "within the boundaries of the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards and the Specific Guidelines for Anchors conducting Programmes including Debates". The complainant's grievance was regarding the show titled "Baba Bageshwar Exclusive Interview", broadcasted on News18 India channel, which was aired on July 9, 2023. 

After hearing the parties it thereafter said, "In the instant case, the seer who was invited by the broadcaster made several claims during the broadcast, which promoted superstition. Furthermore, during the broadcast, several statements were made by the seer concerning Hindu Rashtra and religion, which were divisive in nature, such as that in order to live in India it would be mandatory to say "Sita Ram" and that Islam asked men to trap young Hindu girls in love jihad and then kill them.Therefore, the broadcast violated the Specific Guidelines covering Reportage relating to Racial and Religious Harmony, Supernatural, Occultism and Paranormal and the Advisory on reportage spreading superstition, occultism & blind belief". 

The authority observed that programmes which advance belief in superstition and "tend to create disharmony between communities should not be countenanced and should not be broadcast".

It thereafter issued a warning to the broadcaster and further advised the "broadcaster against inviting persons whose views could be construed as promoting superstitious beliefs and practices".

It then said, "NBDSA further also directed the broadcaster to remove the video of the said broadcast, if still available on the website of the channel, or YouTube, and remove all hyperlinks including access which should be confirmed to NBDSA in writing within 7 days of the Order". 

The complainant had submitted that in the broadcast Shastri had made several claims, such as that he could find "missing animals and cure people" using supernatural power and how writing "magically" appears on something called the Tamapatra in Orissa. The complainant said that Shastri had also claimed to have found "diamonds in Panna using his supernatural powers, and he had the power to predict election results".

He contended that such claims were against the NDBSA Guidelines which prohibited the broadcasters from glorifying superstition and required the broadcasters to issue disclaimers and/or warnings when such claims are made.

He submitted that for any educated and/or scientifically minded person, refuting the preacher's claims did not require any special investigation and if the "anchor required such investigation to fact-check the claims made by the preacher, then he may be unfit to be part of such live programmes".

With respect to the purported statements made by Shastri during the interview, the complainant submitted that NBDSA would be well aware of how "communally driven such claims were", adding that as per the Code of Ethics & Broadcasting Standards, controversial subjects should be "fairly presented" which was not adhered to by the broadcaster. 

In response to the complainant's allegations on promotion of superstition, the broadcaster submitted that the "anchor had interjected the seer and questioned him, "isn't that magic?", to which the seer responded by saying that what he had said was not gospel truth".

Regarding the allegations concerning the communal angle being given by the seer, the broadcaster submitted that it had, in its response to the complaint, mentioned that when the seer said that "he wanted to hug Hindu children, the anchor immediately questioned him why he did not want to hug other children and urged the seer to hug children from other communities as well".

With respect to Shastri's statements, the broadcaster submitted that the anchor had "explicitly mentioned" during the interview that there were 25-30 crore other populations whose interests must also be taken care of.

It contended that it had not accepted the statements made by the seer during the interview at face value; rather, its anchor had, on several occasions, interjected the seer. However, since the broadcast was a "live interview and not a debate", its interjections were raised differently to avoid turning the interview into a debate.

When NBDSA questioned the broadcaster as to why it had called such a person for an interview, the broadcaster submitted that the "seer had continuously dominated the news space for several months; he had taken out several yatras and had been the subject of newspaper articles" and there was lot of news value attached to him. 

The broadcaster further said that it had not raised any questions concerning the supernatural abilities of the seer, rather, it was the seer who, in response to mundane questions about his childhood, had made statements that were objected to by the the complainant.

Case title: Indrajeet Ghorpade v/s Kshipra Jatana Compliance Officer NDBSA TV 18 Broadcast Ltd 

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