LAHORE: The Lahore High Court (LHC) on Tuesday ordered the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) to take legal action against Sahir Lodhi’s morning show in response to an application filed against the dance performances of young girls in the show.
The court approved the petition filed against Lodhi and the show on Monday and directed Pemra to resolve the issue after hearing the complainant in accordance with the law.
Justice Shahid Karim commenced the proceedings on the petition, in which the petitioner had made parties to the Federal government, Pemra, Sahir Lodhi and others.
The petitioner argued that the dance performances by minor girls in Lodhi’s show were creating a negative impact on the society, resulting in incidents like the Kasur tragedy.
The petitioner alleged that Pemra was not taking strict actions to ban such shows, 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 ban the morning show of the renowned host and actor Sahir Lodhi. The federal government, Pemra, Sahir Lodhi and several others were made the respondents in the application.
Lodhi has been receiving severe criticism for showing young girls dancing in his controversial morning show on a private TV channel from the social media users, who say such unethical acts for ratings were spreading vulgarity in the society.
In the case at hand, a video had been circulating the internet wherein a girl roughly aged 10-years-old is seen dancing on one of India’s item songs, Laila Mein Laila. The clip is part of Aapka Sahir that the actor hosts. The clip received a lot of criticism and viewers lashed out at Sahir, 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 sexual harassment instead of brushing it under the carpet like before. They have taken it upon themselves to educate the masses of these societal ills and are 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 and content. Previously, he was issued a show cause notice for violating the ethical codes of Ramazan transmission.