Aman, don’t be naughty,’’ teases the voice without a face. The TV star responds with a smile: "That’s the way I am." Five days ago, the voice plied a Bollywood villain with drinks, got him to be naughtier.
The final act in both cases: a TV crew barges in, squeezes out reactions from stunned victims, hands over the mike to the anchors to proclaim the sting a success.
Left unanswered are a horde of questions on the channel’s methods, its ethics and the laws that govern such operations. The channel’s chief Rajat Sharma says this is new-age journalism to expose the casting couch".
And the law says, well, it’s not really clear what it says: there is a programme and advertising code for entertainment channels (India TV is a news channel); the uplinking rules for news channels say they have to provide monitoring facility at their own cost for checks by a government representative.
Justifying the use of women and liquor in the two stings beamed so far, Sharma says, "To expose defence scams, a sting operation had to be conducted...Our sting operation was conducted to expose the casting couch."
A month ago, the channel had exposed certain priests of the Swaminarayan Temple and a Bihar politician with hidden cameras. This time, Sharma says he has the backing of parents whose daughters dream of making it big in the film industry.
However, former Attorney General Soli Sorabjee argued: It is certainly unethical and against the cherished right to privacy, especially when the right to privacy is recognised as a fundamental right although it can’t be enforced against a private individual.’’
Senior lawyer and former union minister Ram Jethmalani, however, says such operations are "in keeping with the people’s right to know in a democracy.’’ Those in public life who depend upon the public for their livelihood, have to be prepared for such intrusions.’’
Meanwhile, the I&B Ministry is looking at setting up a Broadcast Regulatory Authority to monitor the content of entertainment and news channels.
