The News Broadcasting Standards Authority on August 31 ordered Zee News, a national news broadcaster, to televise an apology on September 8 at 09:00 pm on their channel as well as imposed a fine of Rs 1 lakh holding them liable for malicious coverage against Gauhar Raza, a poet and scientist.

During March, 2016, Raza was branded as a part of an “Afzal Premi Gang” in a telecast by Zee News for reciting his poems in the ‘Shankar-Shaad Mushaira’.

Following this, Raza along with other artists like Ashok Vajpeyi, Shubha Mudgal, Sharmila Tagore and Syeda Hameed filed a complaint with the NBSA against Zee News, with Vrinda Grover as their counsel.

Awarding the highest punishment in their jurisdiction, NBSA, the self-regulatory complaints redressal body of the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), stated that the Zee News programme had violated the NBA code of ethics and broadcasting standards.

Shabnam Hashmi, a social activist, who shared a copy of NBSA’s judgment on Facebook wrote that the regulatory authority’s decision had “upheld the constitutional right of Raza to freedom of speech as well as his right to dissent”.

The August 31 order, which has received much praise on social media comes over a year after the complaint was filed.