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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.