Rakhi Sawant’s agony aunt act on her reality TV show Rakhi Ka Insaaf has gone horribly wrong with a participant she had called ‘impotent’ committing suicide later.Lakshman, who appeared on the show with his wife to resolve his marital dispute, apparently went home depressed. Rakhi, the show’s host, had harshly called him impotent in front of the studio audience.
The channel, Imagine, chose not to edit out her comments when the episode went on air.
The show ended with Lakshman being held ‘guilty’ and his wife refusing to reconcile with him. Later, reports came that Lakshman was dead. His family alleged that Lakshman was depressed after the episode and committed suicide.
But Imagine offered a different version of the events. It claimed Lakshman had drunk himself to death.
“From what we have gathered, Lakshman came back home quite drunk and fell sick shortly afterwards. He was admitted to hospital and passed away soon after. There has been no case of suicide/FIR registered by the local police or the hospital, which would be mandatory in a case of suicide. At this point, we would like to express our anguish at this untimely and unfortunate event,” an official statement by the channel said.
So did Rakhi – known to be a motormouth to gain publicity – cross the line or is the channel to blame?
Kiran Bedi, ex-IPS officer and host of a similar show on Star Plus, put the onus on the channel.
“The anchor is just an instrument. This isn’t a live show and the scissors rest with the editor. The channel should explain the reasons behind allowing such language to go on air,” Bedi said.
“Channels have the responsibility of providing clean and ethical programmes,” she said.
Psychologist Sameer Vohra questioned the logic behind allowing celebrities to play counsellors. “Whatever is being said (during such TV shows) is being watched by millions, and that itself can be perceived by a participant in a very negative way,” Vohra said.
“Someone who is just a celebrity and not qualified to handle counselling should not be allowed to handle such complicated real-life issues,” he said.
