The trend of celebrity hosts interviewing prominent showbiz and famed personalities is on a rise in the country. Various TV channels and digital portals have shows hosted by popular stars and having fun conversations with their fellow industry peers.
Recently, the show Time Out with Ahsan Khan has been facing critical remarks for one of its segments. The internet users have filed an online petition against the host and actor Ahsan Khan’s show for violating animal safety rights.
While animal cruelty is still a big issue in the country, in the show’s segment ‘Cry & Yell’ rabbits are used as props and for entertainment purposes. In a multiple-choice questions segment, if the celebrity guests answers a question incorrectly, a rabbit is placed on their lap. While this may see this as a harmless act, netizens noticed the rabbits stay calm throughout the episode, this made the viewers wonder if they had been sedated.
An online complaint has been registered under Section 26 of the PEMRA Ordinance 2002 for ‘televised broadcast of animal cruelty and negligence’ on the show.
The complaint filed on 18th March, 2021, states that the use of animals as props by the show’s team is not only ‘an offence under the law but a breach of constitutionally guaranteed right to life under Art. 9 of the Constitution as laid down by Islamabad High Court’. The statement further reads that the act is also an offence under Prevention of Cruelty to Animals Act, 1890.
The Chairman of the Council of Complaints has been requested to take appropriate action based on the complaint.
The complaint was registered after a video of actress Maya Ali went viral on the internet. In which, the actress can be seen screaming at a rabbit. Most of the celebrity guests were seen uncomfortable in that particular segment and netizens called out the act as abusing a fragile create like rabbit.
