UK Ofcom media regulator fines £20,000 for Republic Bharat’s offensive hate speech against Pakistani people

Ofcom has today imposed a £20,000 financial penalty on Worldview Media Network Limited after material broadcast on its satellite television service, Republic Bharat, broke our broadcasting rules.

The Republic Bharat channel broadcasts rolling news and current affairs to the Hindi speaking community in the UK.

Ofcom’s investigation found that an episode of Poochta Hai Bharat, a daily current affairs discussion programme, contained uncontextualised and highly offensive hate speech against Pakistani people.

We concluded that this was a serious breach of our rules which warranted the imposition of statutory sanctions. These include: a financial penalty of £20,000, payable to HM Paymaster General; a direction not to repeat the programme; and a direction to broadcast a statement of our findings on a date – and in a form – to be determined by Ofcom.