LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday ordered the PakistanElectronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to take legal action againstSahir Lodhi’s morning show in response to an application filed against thedance performances of young girls in the show.
The court approved the petition filed against Lodhi and the show on Mondayand directed Pemra to resolve the issue after hearing the complainant inaccordance with the law.
Justice Shahid Karim commenced the proceedings on the petition, in whichthe petitioner had made parties to the Federal government, Pemra, SahirLodhi and others.
The petitioner argued that the dance performances by minor girls in Lodhi’sshow were creating a negative impact on the society, resulting in incidentslike the Kasur tragedy.
The petitioner alleged that Pemra was not taking strict actions to ban suchshows, and appealed the apex court to take necessary actions in this regard.
On Monday, the court had approved for a hearing the petition filed to banthe morning show of the renowned host and actor Sahir Lodhi. The federalgovernment, Pemra, Sahir Lodhi and several others were made the respondentsin the application.
Lodhi has been receiving severe criticism for showing young girls dancingin his controversial morning show on a private TV channel from the socialmedia users, who say such unethical acts for ratings were spreadingvulgarity in the society.
In the case at hand, a video had been circulating the internet wherein agirl roughly aged 10-years-old is seen dancing on one of India’s itemsongs, Laila Mein Laila. The clip is part of Aapka Sahir that the actorhosts. The clip received a lot of criticism and viewers lashed out atSahir, PEMRA and the TV channel for airing such shows.
Following the horrific rape and murder of seven-year-old Zainab in Kasur,members of the civil society have opened up the subject of rape and sexualharassment instead of brushing it under the carpet like before. They havetaken it upon themselves to educate the masses of these societal ills andare trying to take action against those involved in these heinous crimes.
This is not the first time that Sahir has been criticised for his shows andcontent. Previously, he was issued a show cause notice for violating theethical codes of Ramazan transmission.