New Delhi: Peace TV, which airs speeches of controversial preacher Zakir Naik, was refused permission to telecast in India for "security reasons", I&B Minister M Venkaiah Naidu said on Monday.
"We have seen in recent days that the so-called Peace TV is affecting peace and then several countries have also banned that channel. But here the question of banning does not arise as it is not permitted at all," Naidu told reporters here.
He said the channel had applied for permission in 2008 which was rejected. They had made a fresh appeal in 2009, which was also rejected for "security reasons."
"There is a huge amount of money... That is a separate part that is being looked into by the Home Ministry. Foreign Contribution Regulation Act violations and also objectionable content etc," he said.
Naidu said he had earlier held a meeting with officials of Home and other Ministries and different teams have been formed to study the content already telecast by the channel.
Whatever action is required will be taken by the Home Ministry, the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the IT Ministry, and the Intelligence Bureau etc. States will also take the required action, he said.
Emphasising that the issue relates to national security and social harmony, Naidu asked law enforcement agencies to keep a strict vigil and appealed to the public to provide information so that no such thing is telecast by local cable operators.
He said Minister of State for I&B Rajyavardhan Rathore would monitor the feedback of the people on social media.
Rathore later told reporters that it is the people watching the channels who are the real eyes and ears as there are 60,000 cable operators in the country and to monitor them all is not easy.
The I&B Ministry, he said, is using social media and whoever notices a violation can bring it to notice through the Twitter handle of the ministry which will inform the local authorities for suitable action. Advisories have already been issued in this regard, Rathore said.
