Religious sentiments ‘hurt’, Assam Police bans TV serial for two months

The Assam Police has ordered a two-month ban on an Assamese TV serial, in which the protagonists are a Hindu woman and a Muslim man, accepting that it had “outraged the religious sentiment of a certain section”, following protests against it for over a month by Hindu right-wing groups.

In an order dated August 24, Guwahati Commissioner of Police M P Gupta wrote to Rengoni TV informing it of the ban under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act, 1995, and saying, “The gist of (the) allegation… is that the serial Begum Jaan has hurt the religious sentiments of certain sections of the society and the serial contains visuals or words contemptuous and defamatory of a particular religion and section of society and is likely to encourage or incite violence.”