The Karnataka High Court on Thursday stayed the telecast of tapes featuring Swami Nityananda purportedly with a woman in a room at his ashram in Bidadi.
A Division Bench, comprising Justices V. Gopala Gowda and B.S. Patil, passed the order on a public interest litigation petition by K.N. Subba Reddy, advocate and former BJP legislator.
Mr. Reddy told the court that ever since a scandal broke out over Swami Nithyananda being videographed, allegedly in the company of a woman, several private television channels, including some from Karnataka, were repeatedly telecasting the footage.
The court was told that the video was shot surreptitiously when the Swami was in the company of a woman, widely believed to be a Tamil actor.
Although the news and the video were originally telecast on a Tamil television channel on March 3, 2010, some channels from the State were repeatedly showing it even now.
Embarrassing
He said it had become embarrassing for a family to watch television when such videos were being telecast frequently.
Moreover, families watched television along with youngsters and children. Such clips could corrupt young minds apart from leading them astray. He urged the court to stay the telecast.
The Bench observed that similar scenes were being telecast both on television and the big screen. How could it then zero in on one programme?
The Bench was told that in television programmes and in cinemas, Censor Board certification was obtained and parental caution advised. In this case there was no such thing.
