Some months ago, I happened to come across a series my mother was watching which depicted a man in his 20s marrying a 7 year old girl. The show disgusted me as it glorified child marriage. I was shocked that this show was allowed to air especially when a similar show, where a boy married a woman was banned from Indian TV
As the show carried on, I filed a complaint online with the Indian broadcasting foundation website against what can only be termed as glorification of child marriage. What I expected was that the IBF would find this show regressive and ban it. The reply I got was diametrically opposite.
The Foundation termed the protagonist of the show of child marriage as “progressive” without giving any context. Another misleading statement is the statement, “The show is based on Anirudh Choudary”. What if I say the movie was based on Anikin Skywalker, what does it imply? To me it implies that Anikin Skywaker was a real person. A series cannot be based on a fictional character. It can be about a fictional character but not based on one.
Another observation I want to highlight is the patriarchal nature of the series and the defence of Mr Ashish Sinha. They calimed to watch 6 episodes and all they could see was “his hardships and struggles”. They didn’t notice the 7 year old girl’s hardships and struggle, which is why child marriage is banned today. The most obnoxious statement in their letter is that the show has a positive messaging. So from the letter, the positive messaging is that if you are educated, and you want to rescue a 7 year old girl from death, its good or positive to marry her.
Out of curiosity I browsed through he past orders of BCCC against shows that depict child marriage and here are some of the rulings:
- BCCC took the channel’s reply on record cautioned it against repeat teleacasts without appropriate modifications
- The episodes in no manner have encouraged child marriage or promoted superstitions. The Council was satisfied with the channel’s reply.
- The channel has used its creative liberty to depict a story track and there are twists and turns but all in the form of a drama.
- The Council concurred with the channel’s reply, accepted it on record and suggested that the channel exercise greater caution in such depiction as sensitivities of the masses are involved and such scenesactually lead to glorification of the ritual itself.
- BCCC was of the view that though all rituals and child marriage have been shown, it is a fictional representation. There have been films and serials earlier which has catered to this theme. Such themes have attempted to address the negative impact of various social practices. The Council decided to ask the channel not to tend to vicarious pleasures of the viewers by showing or depicting child abuse.
- BCCC viewed the episode and found it to be a part of period story. Since the existing customs at that point in time, allowed child marriage, the Council did not wish to make an intervention as no story could be told if any period drama is to be shown on TV.
- There is more drama before the shagun ceremony when the child hits her potential bridegroom for humiliating her father. BCCC concluded that the manner in which the child is depicted, there is no intent on the channel’s part to glorify child marriage
BCCC clearly has no qualms with showcasing child marriage even though the stories are fictitious. The writers take a lot of creative liberty, rarely if at all, doing any research into the practice and the social impact it can have by showing it in any other format of visual entertainment other than a serious documentary. One might say I am taking these orders out of context but the fact is like ban on cigarette smoking, depiction of child marriages should be banned. The reason is people still smoke, cigarettes are still sold and thus people are vulnerable to the negative impacts of cigarettes. Similarly, child marriages still do take place in our country and these serials play a role in glorifying the husbands who are “rescuing” these girls from poverty, glorifying the victims for falling into the pit of Stockholm syndrome and also glorifying the hardships the girls face. The fact is Indian minor girls are still vulnerable and serials depicting child marriage normalize the societies outrage towards this draconian practice