According to The Hindu, India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B) has banned the transmission of Comedy Central channel for ten days from May 25 – June 4 on any platform across the country. The government has held that two shows on the channel, Comedy Central Presents and Popcorn, telecast in July and August 2012 respectively, violated the programming code of the Cable Television Networks Regulation Act, 1995.

The order said that in early August another show was screened, based on “playing pranks in public” on the lines of a candid camera, where a person pretended to engage in sexual activity with dummy legs, which “amazed,” “surprised,” “amused” onlookers. The Ministry held the visuals in violation of several programming code provisions and issued a second show-cause. The ban followed an order issued previously the month before.

Separately, Firstpost reported that Comedy Central has filed an appeal in the Delhi High Court against a single judge order upholding the Centre’s decision to stop its transmission for ten days for airing “obscene” dialogues and “vulgar” words besides being derogatory to women. It adds that dismissing a plea of Viacom 18 Media Pvt Ltd, the single judge bench of the high court had said the penalty prohibiting the telecast of the channel for ten days cannot be termed as “excessive, harsh or unreasonable.”  It had rejected the channel’s argument that the decision is discriminatory as the government had not consulted the Broadcasting Consumers Complaint Committee (BCCC) before imposition of the penalty.