Congress on Wednesday approached the News Broadcasting Standards Authority (NBSA) complaining against Zee News and its anchor Rohit Ranjan for airing a "malicious" video byte on Rahul Gandhi claiming that he was showing sympathy for Udaipur killers.
In a letter to the NBSA, Congress Media and Publicity Department Chairman Pawan Khera said the "illegal, unethical and malicious" report was part of Zee News' programme 'DNA' on July 1.
He said Zee News sought to "falsely and maliciously" suggest that Rahul "demonstrated sympathy" for the killers of Kanhaiya Lal by calling them "children" and saying they acted in an irresponsible way and that he had no anger against them.
However, he said, the comments in their "original and correct" context referred to the vandalism of his office in Wayanad by SFI activists and "were in no way" connected with the Udaipur killing.
"It must be noted that only Zee and its anchor chose to give the clip this distorted and malicious interpretation. Not one other news agency, channel or newspaper made the same mistake," he said, seeking action against the channel.
He said it was only after numerous complaints by Congress and public at large that the "distortion and falsity of the broadcast" was taken down.
Congress has already got FIRs filed against the channel and the anchor in Jaipur and against BJP MPs, including Rajyavardhan Rathore, in Bilaspur for spreading the video on social media despite it turning out to be false. Congress also filed complaints in five other states.
(Published 06 July 2022, 08:58 IST)
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