Terming the remarks of Red FM radio jockey against the Gorkha community as "derogatory", the government has banned the radio channel for seven days."The remarks indeed hurt the sentiments of the Gurkha (Nepali) community and the steps taken by them did not help as the violence continued even after that. So we decided to impose a ban of seven days on the channel," a senior Information and Broadcasting ministry official said, adding the order would be subject to the outcome of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal's hearing.The ban would be subject to the outcome of the channel's appeal against the showcause notice by the Ministry in the TDSAT, which will take up the matter tomorrow.The alleged derogatory remarks made by a radio jockey of the channel on the winner of Indian Idol, Prashant Tamang, had triggered clashes and violence in Siliguri last week.Allowing the government to go ahead with its proceedings, the broadcast tribunal on Monday held that the order of the government will not be implemented till the next date of hearing."Following the showcause notice, the channel had given its reply and also explained that it has already apologised to the Gurkha community. But we found the remarks to be definitely derogatory and the remedial steps were not adequate," the official said.He said in the reply, the channel also did not suggest what further remedial measures it intended to take to quell the situation.
