COC, Barrister Pansota rules against defining content ‘immoral’
The Council of Complaints, PEMRA (Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority) headed by Barrister Muhammad Ahmad Pansota has directed there is no need to define “immoral” as it has been adequately defined under the Constitution of Pakistan, 1973.
According to Baaghi TV reports, PEMRA which was established under the PEMRA Ordinance 2002 to regulate content broadcast on private electronic media across Pakistan reportedly ruled on a petition filed by Advocate High Court Mr. Faiz Ullah Khan Niazi and Advocate High Court Mr. Nadeem Sarwar against popular private entertainment channel, HUM TV for airing immoral content.
The content in question was a television play titled Juda Huay Kuch Is Tarha produced by Momina Duraid under the banner of MD Productions. It featured Dur-e-Fishan Saleem and Nabeel Zuberi in the lead roles and touched upon the socially taboo concept of incest. According to the Collins Dictionary, “Incest is the crime of two members of the same family having sexual intercourse, for example, a father and daughter, or a brother and sister”.
In its 113th meeting, the Council of Complaints (COC) deliberated on the complaint filed by Advocate Mr. Niazi and Advocate Mr. Sarwar. The meeting was chaired by Chairman PEMRA, Muhammad Saleem Baig, during which recommendations by the COC were presented.
According to the recommendations, Chairman COC, Barrister Muhammad Pansota directed that there is no need to define the wors “Indecent, obscene or Immoral as the same has already been provided under the const, law & the Code”. The COC further determined that the content in question was neither indecent nor obscene.
Council of Complaints @reportpemra, Lahore, holds that there is no need to define words such as Indecent, obscene or Immoral as the same has already been provided under the const, law & the Code. The appropriate forum to adjudicate upon such a case is the Council of Complaint pic.twitter.com/q43A4Xq42C
— Muhammad Ahmad Pansota (@Pansota1) January 26, 2022
“The guidelines have already been provided by PEMRA and there is no further need to elaborate or adjudicate upon the definitions, doing so would hinder the enactments of some of the most horrible yet important social issues which create social awareness – such as Child abuse, rapes, honor killings, human trafficking”, claimed the COC.
According to reports, COC PEMRA passed the decision under the code of Conduct 2015.
The COC meeting held on 23 September 2021, was attended by Ms. Sahar Zareen Bandial, Ms. Sarah Ahmad, Ms. Shamim Zaidi, Mr. Touqeer Nasir, and Mr. Shahjahan Khan. According to the complaints, the content aired by HUM TV included the “sensitive/controversial theme of incest depicted in the form of a relationship between two foster siblings”. At the time, the content was mainly challenged on the grounds of indecency.
According to Baaghi TV reports, while Advocate Faiz Ullah Khan Niazi appeared before the Council, no one appeared in place of Advocate Nadeem Sarwar. Meanwhile, Mr. Rizwan appeared as a representative of the private TV Channel and submitted a written response on behalf of the respondent channel. According to the reports, the Council was informed that the theme was employed as “a conspiracy against the couple” which was clarified in later episodes. Following which Advocate Niazi asked for time to watch the drama Juda Huay Kuch Is Tarha and the matter was adjourned till the next COC meeting.
On the next meeting held on the 14th October 2021, both complainants appeared before the council whereas, a written request for adjournment was submitted by the channel representative. During the course of this meeting, the COC recommended the formation of a sub-committee under Rule 9 (8) of the PEMRA rules 2010. The matter was placed before the Council once again on the 25th of November 2021, during which both the complainants and the respondent channel submitted written requests for adjournment.
According to Baaghi TV reports, Ms. Sahar Bandial of the Council of Complaints, PEMRA expressed the opinion that although the Council is within its legal rights to constitute a sub-committee it should include a member of the Council. Thereby, a sub-committee was formed under Ms. Sahar Bandial including Ms. Maheen Gull, Advocate High Court Ms. Ramla Altaf Baig, Human Rights Activist Ms. Nayab Jaan, Ms. Sehar Amin Tarar, and Barrister Azka Wahid, respectively.
COC PEMRA has passed it's decision on defining words such as 'obscene', 'vulgar' and 'immoral' under the code of Conduct 2015. Thank you for addressing such a sensitive matter Chairman COC @Pansota1 and Member COC Sahar Bandial. pic.twitter.com/mdkR56Hm8T
— Ramla Baig (@ramla_baig) January 27, 2022
According to a document concerning the Obscenity Judgement by PEMRA, “Indecency is defined as “morally offensive behavior”, in Cambridge and Oxford’s dictionary while in Black’s law dictionary indecency is defined as state or condition of being outrageously offensive, esp. in a vulgar or sexual way”.
Nonetheless, the COC, PEMRA, Lahore directed that the masses are educated through media, a right which they have duly acknowledged. According to the COC directive, dramas have covered “sensitive/controversial and untouched topics like that of child sexual abuse”. Such a topic was first highlighted through HUMTV’s Udaari (2016). Another drama titled Rehaii (2013) uncovered the social issue of child marriage and became the basis of the Child Marriage Restraint Act 2013. According to the COC, both Udaari and Rehaii, “helped in the emergence of socially responsible institutions and educated masses”.
Moreover, it is dramas like Chup Raho, Dunk, Udaari, Ruswai, and others that help to raise awareness and knowledge about issues such as “rape, molestation, physical/sexual/child/domestic abuse and harassment”. The COC sub-committee directed that the mentioned dramas were delivering a “social cause/message, thus socially benefitting the society/public”.
The complete report of the COC proceedings are attached below:
[embeddoc url=”https://en.baaghitv.com/wp-content/uploads/2022/01/OBSCENITY-JUDGMENT-COC-PEMRA.pdf”]
In conclusion, the Council of Complaints (COC) after looking at the content/facts and surrounding circumstances as held in the judgment reported as PLD 2017 Sindh 209, further held that adjudicating upon the definitions would hinder the enactments of some of the most horrible yet important social issues which create social awareness – such as Child abuse, rapes, honor killings, human trafficking.
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