Pehredaar Piya Ki row: BCCC takes action against show, asks channel to change time-slot

Sony channel has been directed by the self-regulatory body for television, Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) to move the time-slot of its most controversial daily soap ‘Pehredaar Piya Ki’ from 8.30 pm to 10 pm. It has also advised the channel to run a scroll saying it does not promote child marriage, the chairman of the body said on Wednesday.

A meeting headed by the new chief of the BCCC, Justice (retd) Vikramajit Sen, took place on Wednesday in this regard. The decision was taken amid demands across the country to ban the soap for its alleged “regressive” content.

The story of the soap revolves around a nine-year-old boy, Ratan (Afaan Khan) and his marriage to 18-year-old Diya (Tejasswi Prakash).

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While speaking to PTI, the BCCC Chief said that though elders are awake at 10 pm, the body wants to ensure that minors are not able to see the show. He added that they ordered a scroll to be run since they did not want any misinterpretation that the show advocates child marriage.

There were strong objections to the show raised by national women’s panel and children’s panel, apart from complaints received from viewers, JNU Professor Ira Bhaskar said.

While speaking to PTI, she said, “Some of the complaints from viewers said that showing a young boy having a romantic attraction for an older woman is not the material that young kids should be exposed to. It was felt by the Council that at least very young children should not be watching such content.”

However, the channel remained unavailable to comment on the matter.

(With PTI inputs)

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