Truth can’t harm, court says; dismisses plea against ‘Sach Ka Saamna’ (Lead)
July 29th, 2009 - 8:19 pm ICT by IANSNew Delhi, July 29 (IANS) Citing India’s “high ethos” and “rich heritage” and quoting Mahatma Gandhi, the Delhi High Court Wednesday dismissed the plea against the controversial reality TV show “Sach ka Saamna” and stated that no one should have any problem if people are telling the truth in open.
A division bench of Chief Justice Ajit Prakash Shah and Justice Manmohan said, “India is a land of rich heritage and high ethos and speaking truth is not harmful at all….. If someone wants to speak truth in public let him do so…”
Giving the example of the Father of the Nation, the bench also noted: “If people are taking inspiration from Gandhi and then coming out and speaking the truth, we don’t think there is anything wrong in the same.”
It also stated that courts have more important things to do than moral policing. “It is for the government to decide whether the programme should be banned or not. It is not the function of the court… There are far more serious problems in this country which we have to settle.”
It asked the petitioners, Deepak Maini and Prabhat Kumar, to approach the central government with their plea.
The petitioners had approached the court seeking a stay on the show being telecast on Star Plus channel, alleging that it was against the values of Indian society.
But the court said: “Our culture is not so fragile that it would be affected by one TV programme. Those who don’t want to see it can switch off their TV sets or can watch any other channel.”
The show had last week created an uproar in parliament, following which the information and broadcasting ministry had issued a show-cause notice to the channel.
The petitioners alleged that the programme posed ‘obscene’ questions to the contestants and cited the example when a woman was asked in her husband’s presence if she had a physical relationship with another person. When she said no, the polygraph test said the answer was wrong.
“sach ka Saamna”, based on the popular American TV show “Moment of Truth”, started this month and has climbed popularity charts.
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Tags: ajit, central government, chief justice, delhi high court, division bench, mahatma gandhi, maini, manmohan, petitioners, physical relationship, polygraph test, prabhat, prakash shah, reality tv show, rich heritage, speaking the truth, telling the truth, tv programme, tv sets, uproar
