An Indian TV show depicting child marriage has been pulled off air after a petition to ban the show got over 100,000 signatures.
The show Pehredar Piya Ki depicts a nine-year-old boy and a 19-year-old woman getting married.
This, caused outrage with viewers, and it has since been pulled by the Indian Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.
Complaints included inappropriate depictions of child marriage, and accusations that the children in the show were sexualised.
Child marriage is technically illegal in India, though it is a widespread practice in many areas of the country.
In the show, the eight-year-old Prince falls in love with a young girl and follows her around, taking photographs of her.
Megha Mathur, a journalist from The Quint told the BBC:
I didn’t really think he was being creepy though because it came across as harmless infatuation.
But around the fifth episode, the nine-year-old started to behave like he was all grown up and I think they lost the plot.
The petition began when a Mumbai-based foundation demanded an ‘immediate ban’ due to its ‘indecency’.
In the show, there is apparently talk about a honeymoon and a ‘suhaag raat’ which is a consummation of marriage.
The Jai Ho group had this to say in a letter to the Indian ministry:
A child is seen caressing, stalking and having a relationship of a sexual nature with a lady who is more than double his age.
This is an indecent and obscene representation of a child for the purpose of representing sexual relationship.
Originally, the slot for the show was moved from 8.30pm to 10.30pm and a disclaimer was placed at the beginning of the show saying ‘we do not support child marriage’.
But that was not enough, and eventually the show was pulled off air.
It’s hard to think how this would even make it to the screen in the first place, who signed off on this?
