New Delhi: The News Broadcasters and Digital Association (NBDSA) has fined Zee Telugu News Rs 1 lakh for airing a programme in which it deemed the transgender identity of a group of arrested persons to be ‘fake’ and after it could not account for the source of the images it had used in the broadcast.The self-regulatory body was adjudicating on a complaint against the November 2024 programme filed by Indrajeet Ghorpade and issued its order on Tuesday (February 17), in which it also directed Zee Telugu News to remove the photographs it had used in the broadcast.Combined with another NBDSA order issued on Tuesday against Zee for falsely saying that a trucker had caused a traffic jam in Jammu and Kashmir by offering namaz from the roof of his vehicle, the media group has been fined a total of Rs 2 lakh across the two decisions.Ghorpade, whose complaints frequently result in action by the NBDSA, had noted that Zee Telugu News’s programme had called the gender identity of a group of transgender persons, who were arrested in Hyderabad in November 2024 for allegedly being a public nuisance, to be ‘fake’, an assertion he said was ‘blatantly transphobic, unverified and inaccurate’.Asking on what basis Zee Telugu News termed the individuals’ transgender identity to be ‘fake’, Ghorpade as per the order also alleged that the channel used images of transgender persons unrelated to the case.Zee responded to Ghorpade’s complaint by saying that its use of the word ‘fake’ was an ‘inadvertent error’ that was ‘immediately rectified upon its being brought to its attention’. It denied using the term in its programme or ‘insinuating’ that the individuals’ transgender identity was ‘fake’.It also said that the contents of its broadcast were ‘derived entirely from information provided by local authorities and was corroborated by other reputable news agencies’.However, alleging that Zee used the term ‘fake’ ‘intentionally to sensationalise the matter and target helpless, marginalised individuals’ and that the channel ‘simply served as a mouthpiece for … prejudiced law enforcement authorities’, Ghorpade escalated the matter to the NBDSA on November 26, 2024.A year later, when the voluntary regulator called both parties for a hearing, Zee submitted that per initial information provided by its sources the arrested individuals were ‘men pretending to be transgender persons’ but that it removed the word ‘fake’ ‘upon clarification’. It also said that the photographs it used were ‘provided … by local law enforcement agencies’.Considering the submissions, NBDSA chairperson and retired Supreme Court Justice A.K. Sikri said that “it transpires that the pictures/photographs” used in the programme “are fake, as this aspect is not disputed by the broadcaster”. While Zee said they were provided the photos by law enforcement, “no documentary evidence is provided in support of this assertion”.On the use of the term ‘fake’, the NBDSA concluded that Zee Telugu News “should exercise caution” and “verify facts before broadcasting any content”.“In so far as dereliction in the programme in putting the photographs and the use of the word ‘fake’ is concerned, which has undermined the image of those whose photographs are shown, NBDSA also imposes a penalty of Rs 1,00,000,” the order said, adding to direct the channel to take down the pictures within seven days.In its web version of the report too Zee said that many of the individuals arrested in November 2024 were “fake hijras”.