|
GUNNING FOR MURDOCH
The witch-hunt is gaining
pace. And it seems like Delhi special metropolitan magistrate
Prem Kumar and advocate Arun Aggarwal may well draw some
blood as far as Rupert Murdoch is concerned. Last week's
order by the magistrate in the obscure obscenity case against
Murdoch is an indication of that. He has ordered Murdoch's
counsel to draw up a list of the global media baron's assets
and properties in India. This move is a precursor to having
them attached and sealed.
The public interest litigation
by Aggarwal doesn't make sense. The movies which have been
regarded as obscene, Big Bad Mamma, Dance of the Damned,
Stripped to Kill were aired all over Asia at the same time
they were in India. But it is only in this the land of the
KamaSutra and the Khajhurao and wet sari-bosom-and-belly-button
displaying songs in Hindi, Tamil, Telugu and Kannada films
has somebody taken objection to the said movies and gone
to court. And the courts are listening to him. Not only
that. They've issued summons and arrest warrants against
Rupert Murdoch, who runs newspapers and television stations
all over the world, and who probably would not have had
any idea that the movies were being shown and would be labeled
obscene in India.
Not that other Asian countries are not as conservative as
India. Not that the media barons there don't hate Murdoch
as much as Indian media owners do. They all want to bring
him down, prevent him from attacking and stealing away their
fiefdom. The sad part is the law in India can be exploited.
And it is being done so in the obscenity cse. If the Indecent
Representation of Women's Act were to be applied stringently
not one Hindi or Tamil or Telugu or Kannada movie would
ever make it to the big screen. Nor would the songs be shown
on the south Indian TV channels under the category called
Midnight Masala.
How often has Indian cinema displayed Indian women as objects
to be chased, fondled and raped and that too sadistically?
Or as just decorative pieces in mindless movie plot? Countless
number of times. And while there have been objections, they
have not been as loud in Murdoch's case.
This is not to say that the
so-called "wrong" committed by Star Movies executives should
go unpunished. Sure, if Star TV executives have flouted
the law they should be punished. But by trying to haul up
Murdoch for something he may not be responsible at all is
foolish. Blaming Murdoch for the movies shown on Star is
like blaming India's prime minister Atal Behari Vajpayee
for a railway accident and hauling him to court for that.
The obscenity matter has dragged on long enough. And taxpayers'
money has been wasted enough. Murdoch is unlikely to come
to any Indian court (without any disrespect on this writer's
part for the court). What the government should do is get
the Star TV senior management to render a public apology
for the mistake on its part. Additionally, the courts should
levy a heavy monetary fine on the executives too. Remember,
the "transgression" (if we can call it that) occurred at
a time when there wasn't even a skeleton of broadcasting
regulation in India. Not that there is any now.
Article
appeared in a local newspaper
|
