Click to play videoNew Delhi: The National Commission for Protection of Child Rights has now made a move that could stop children below 16 years from participating in reality shows.
It is one of the recommendations put together by the Child Rights Commission to shield underage children participating in reality shows.
The trigger was the case of a 16-year-old girl called Shinjini Sengupta, who was allegedly tortured by judges in one such TV show.
The image of the girl from Kolkata had been etched on television viewers' minds. Her medical fate made everyone ask if it was correct to push children to their limits. Shinjini's parents alleged that the girl had been affected physically and psychologically after the show.
Shinjini fought loss of voice and paralysis and her family said that it she had been deeply affected by the rebuke at the hands of one of the judges on the reality show.
So now the national commision for protection of child rights has proposed and drawn up some broad guidelines that will be formalised soon.
The move will now rule that children under 16 years of age cannot appear in reality TV shows. The onus to ensure adherence to the guidelines lies with the parents and not with the broadcaster, said the National Commission.
The proposal recommends that an interview with the parents of interested participants, with a counsellor roped in, should be made mandatory. This is essentially to ascertain whether the parents are imposing their will on the child.
It is likely that the commission may agree to the lower age limit being brought down to 12 years. Cash rewards should not be given by the show producers. Instead, educational bonds and fixed deposits may be given.
The commission believes some parents may push kids into such shows due to the monetary benefits.
Most importantly the commission prescribes punitive action against the broadcaster or the show producer if a child participant is found to have been harrassed, as was alleged in the case of Shinjini.
"If the judge passes a very negative comment in front of the others, their (the child's) self esteem tends to get affected," said Sameer Malhotra, head of psychiatry at the Fortis hospital.
But the commission underlines that it wants these guidelines to be welcomed and adopted by the broadcasters and therefore plans to meet up with representatives in the industry for their inputs.
Even international reality TV shows like Kid Nation and Bad Dads have come under heavy criticism, forcing authorities to revise guidelines. Now the child rights activists press for shows that show some conscience while chasing TRPs.
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