For those who don’t know: justice (retd) Markandey Katju is the closest we have to an elected conscience keeper of the Indian press. As veteran editor Kuldip Nayar reminded the Editors Guild AGM on Saturday, like all moral conscience keepers, the Press Council of India (PCI), which Katju now chairs, wasn’t given control over anything substantive. It’s hardly surprising therefore that PCI and its train of chairmen have remained faceless in the media discourse. But Katju is different. Since he’s come on board three months back, each time he wakes up from his bed, he wants his place in the headlines. So, editors are moronic, communal and anti-people; TV devotes too much time on Bollywood and cricket; Mirza Ghalib and Saratchandra should get the Bharat Ratna. The list of bloomers is growing.

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Katju’s latest hobby horse is an Indo-Canadian porn star! In a statement, the learned geriatric has likened the athletic Punjabi lass to Amrapali and Mary Magdalene, the sub-text being that he himself is a cross over between the Buddha and Jesus. An ordinary libertarian on Twitter is entitled to give such a carte blanche to Sunny Leone and the sordid porn industrial complex whose Trojan Horse she no doubt is. But someone who is a former judge of the apex court, now heading PCI?! Without meaning to hurt those who visit her website, let me confront Katju with three simple facts on his doddering morality (and senility):

1. On December 30, 2011, Katju was cc’d (I emphasise, cc’d only) on a complaint by RTI activist Dev Ashish Bhattacharya, arguing that a detailed complaint about a cross-promotion cohort between Sunny Leone and TV channel Colors has been deliberately messed up by the self-regulation body of the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF). The so-called self-regulation body in question is headed by another doddering soul, justice (retd) AP Shah. The complaint against Shah (appended below) was addressed to Ambika Soni, minister for information and broadcasting, who is supposed to keep a close watch on whether the self-regulator and his team are doing a fair job or are they merely batting for the channels which pay for their allowances and rent.

What did Katju do? He didn’t say a word on the core issue, ie, cross promotion of porn between Colors/MTV tweets and Sunny’s, or daily blogs written by Sunny Leone from the BiggBoss5 safe house duly posted on www.sunnyleone.com, or even videos of BiggBoss5 that Colors made available to her for posting alongside filth and porn dished out on her site, or hard facts on how else she had her porn site have become the most googled website in India. He issued the statement we’re discussing here: “We should not condemn her (Sunny Leone) for her past” as there was nothing to suggest that she indulged in pornography while in India, where it is illegal.

2. In his wisdom and hurry to hit the headlines, despite merely being on a ‘cc,’ Katju dug himself in stating: “My opinion is that Sunny Leone was earning her livelihood in the U.S. in a manner acceptable in that country, though it is not acceptable in India. Hence if she conducts herself in India in a manner which is socially acceptable in India and does not breach the social moral code in India, we should not treat her as a social outcast.” This, the publicity-starved judge may wish to know, ran contrary to what Shah’s kangaroo court had told the poor complainant. As Shah’s colleague on the panel, Wajahat Habibullah, clearly stated to The Tribune (a quote lifted lock, stock and barrel by the Delhi Times subsequently), the BCCC (Broadcast Consumers Complaint Council of the IBF) took on board the criminality of what was going on. Having conceded the criminality, the BCCC astutely put the onus on Sunny Leone and left Colors without the smear of complicity. Instead, the channel was given the task of obliterating cross promotion of pornography in the next 72 hours. Whoever was guilty, there was no question mark BCCC left regarding wrong doing, per se. What needed to be obliterated in 72 hours, if there was no cause of action and Sunny Leone’s porn cohorts were conducting themselves like the lord’s angels?

3. Reminding us that we Indians are broad-minded people, Justice Katju has gone on to state that “there is no saint without a past and no sinner without a future.” This is where he throws in examples of the “courtesan” Amrapali and “fallen woman” Mary Magdalene, who became disciples of the Buddha and Jesus respectively. In his mysterious keenness to ingratiate himself with the ‘devotee’, Katju ignored that Sunny Leone has clearly and repeatedly stated two things: a) she is unrepentant of being a porn star, and b) she will return to her preferred vocation, let there be no two opinions about this. So, we have in Sunny Leone, a ‘Mary’ here who is both unrepentant and committed to stay that way. We don’t know what the Buddha or Jesus would have done for her, but we now know what the modern-day reincarnate wants! Where will the PCI chief look once Sunny Leone releases more nude pictures on her forthcoming Bollywood film, and then returns to the US to do new pornographic masterpieces that every child in India with an internet connection would know about?

I have no problem with Katju or any other libertarians if they are men and women walking on the street. But in the instant case, the man issuing strange statements is some sort of media functionary, albeit with very few editors vouching for his sanity. Isn’t it Katju who remarked that the media is not seriously addressing the main issues which are socio-economic in nature but focusing on happenings and events which do not have much relevance, importance and don’t contribute to the progress and development of the Indian society? Isn’t it he who tried substantiating his arguments by explaining how the media played a prominent role in the transformation of Europe from the early despotic rule, under which Europe suffered, to the modern industrial and welfare state? Isn’t it he who lamented about the electronic media devoting a substantial time to the glorifying of commercial films, cricket, fashion fiestas, reality shows and the like are justified when one sees excessive coverage given to the glamour and glitter of Bollywood and the excessively hyped cricket games have been literally turned into a national mania that have been eroding the sanity and creativity of the youth of this country. Isn’t it he who questioned how cricket, a pastime for the millions of young people in this country has been turned into a major obsession and a bit of precious time is spent in watching, discussing and debating the superfluous aspects of these projections across all sections of the society?

Well, Mr Katju, are you any different…chasing a porn star for your daily fix of headlines! Ugh!

The complaint

December 30, 2011
Smt Ambika Soni
Union Minister for Information & Broadcasting
Shastri Bhawan
New Delhi
 
 
Sub: Complaint against delay, dubious intent, and denial of fair play by Broadcast Consumers Complaint Council (BCCC) of IBF, chaired by Justice AP Shah, over cross-promotion by Colors of porn actress Sunny Leone
 
Dear Madam Minister:

I had made an urgent complaint on November 24, 2011, regarding blatant cross-promotion of pornography by TV channel Colors, licensed by your ministry, being undertaken in complicity with porn actress Sunny Leone, featured on the channel’s show BiggBoss5. The complaint was received by IBF/BCCC on November 28, 2011.
 
I was not given any feedback by IBF/BCCC regarding my complaint for more than three weeks. This was a violation of fair play and their own self-regulation guidelines regarding the requirements that IBF/BCCC need to fulfill vis-à-vis you, the licensor. (A copy of any correspondence that IBF/BCCC may have undertaken with you, the licensor, without my knowledge, will be sought subsequently under the provisions of RTI).
 
Madam Minister, I persisted with my aforementioned complaint after noticing how the porn actress had become the most googled celebrity in India during the Nov-Dec 2011 period.  I was angered by the ruinous impact this was having on children and vulnerable sections of the digital world/social media, but I failed to make any dent with IBF/BCCC.
 
Specifically, after waiting impatiently for the courtesy of a reply, I sought a personal hearing before the IBF/BCCC. The IBF/BCCC Secretary Shri Naresh Chahal was dismissive and bordering on trying to dissuade me from persisting any further.  When I invoked him one final time over SMS, asking if I will be afforded an expeditious and personal hearing with Justice AP Shah and BCCC members, he laconically and rudely SMSd, ''NO (in capital letters).”
 
I am sure you are angered with this sort of approach from a body that has been trusted by the licensor/society in being able to self regulate member channels. I can appreciate that subscribers such as Network18/Colors pay for running of IBF/BCCC, but then isn’t it a scandalous failure of ''self regulation,’’ if the IBF/BCCC Secretary is caught hand-in-glove with a subscriber?
 
Anyways, the matter was heard on December 23, 2011, after several reminders to Shri Chahal, and I was allowed entry only after I sent an SMS to Justice AP Shah.  The scene inside left me feeling very unwanted and outnumbered. 'Outnumbered, ‘because I did not have any lead time to engage legal support, whereas Colors had at least three representatives inside the kangaroo court; 'unwanted’ because the Colors team was moving around the proceedings with great sense of ownership of the place, while I was affixed to the status of 'accused’!
 
I am sorry to state that the IBF/BCCC had all intentions to adjudicate on a landmark case in an ex parte manner.
 
As IBF/BCCC will kindly confirm, it is only my personal hearing on December 23, 2011, afforded to me after a massive delay of 27 days, which finally enabled BCCC to appreciate, despite the presence of a battery of lawyers from Colors’s side, the gross and deliberate violations of the self-regulation code, including cross-promotion, criminality, and glorification of pornography.
 
The criminality of Colors was confirmed by BCCC member Shri Wajahat Habibullah in The Daily Tribune and the Times of India/Delhi Times, in the following manner: ''We all agreed that Sunny Leone has been using Bigg Boss to promote pornography which is classified as a criminal activity in India. It may not be criminal in the US where she comes from, but here it happens to be so. Therefore, she can’t be allowed to use our television to promote her business. Colors has agreed to comply and report back on steps taken.’’ But Madam Minister, please see the non chalance of Colors about the IBF/BCCC process! In the Times of India report quoted by me here, the channel has said, ''….the BCCC REQUESTED (emphasis mine) us to use our commercial endeavours to persuade Sunny Leone to not use Bigg Boss5 or Colors on her websites…in the past we have persuaded Sunny Leone not to use Colors of Bigg Boss5 in any form, and now we have decided to write a letter to her…’’
 
The complicity of IBF/BCCC with the channel becomes apparent from the use of the word ''REQUESTED,’’ by the channel. Is this the sort of relationship they enjoy with each other? Second, if Sunny Leone ''misused,’’ Colors footage on her porn site, without the channel’s complete and knowing connivance, and assuming for a moment managed to even write a daily blog on the porn site from a safe house controlled by Colors, why was she not penalized or evicted?
 
Complicity is therefore apparent by the fact that IBF/BCCC did not fine/penalize/punish the channel for willfully sharing official video clippings of BigBoss5 with her porn site, www.sunnyleone.com, despite colour printouts of the same having been provided by me as material evidence. This is a clear case where the channel was let off on the specious argument that they did not violate the self-regulation guidelines, despite the fact that footage was shared with her, blogs promoting the show were authored from the Colors safe house, and MTV twitter account blatantly promoted her pornography. Material evidence in this regard furnished by me was ignored by IBF/BCCC.
 
After the aforementioned efforts, I was made to run from pillar to post trying to secure a copy of the BCCC order on the subject and a copy of the accused’s compliance statement. Shri Chahal denied me the same and even called me up on my phone accusing me of unbecoming behavior with BCCC/IBF colleagues. Nothing could be further from the truth. The video recordings in IBF/BCCC CCTV apparatus would bear me out. The wild swipes at me by Shri Chahal were clearly aimed to demoralize a public-spirited citizen and to distract me from a fairly simple pursuit of righteousness that I have embarked upon.
 
To my horror, I have found that while I stood denied until December 29, 2011 of a copy of IBF/BCCC order and a compliance statement by the accused, which were my right, TOI/Delhi Times was afforded detailed copies of my complaint, and the IBF/BCCC order several days earlier.
 
In summary, and in view of the delays, dubious intents, and denial of fair play cited above, I find that IBF/BCCC has singularly failed to elicit my confidence about its capability to rise above the fact that financially IBF/BCCC is beholden to FOUR subcriptions paid by an accused member channel, in this case Network18/TV18/Colors.
 
Accordingly, I am constrained to put BCCC, and the IBF Secretary Shri Chahal under notice through you, to: a) reiterate the timelines under which they adjudicate on urgent complaints, b) make it compulsory for IBF/BCCC to grant personal hearing from complainants, c) to justify in detail whether Colors has been warned for stating that it has been ''requested,’’ and not ''ordered,’’ to cease and desist from blatant cross promotion of pornography, d) to justify vide sharing details of material counter-evidence due to which IBF/BCCC came to the conclusion that Colours/MTVtwitter/www.sunnyleone.com/mobile apps provider netizart were not hand in glove with each other.
 
This submission to your good self is without prejudice to my right to invoke the media, and to pursue criminal complicity of the IBFBCCC Chairman/Members/Secretary in the appropriate fora for the promotion of pornography.
 
With warm personal regards,
 
Dev Ashish Bhattacharya
B-5, Pocket 7, Block 54, Kendriya Vihar-II, Sector 82
Noida 201304, UP Tel: 9810108363
 
cc:  Shri Markandey Katju, Chairman
      Press Council of India, New Delhi
      Justice (Retd) AP Shah
      Chairman, BCCC, IBF, Ansal Plaza, New Delhi