New Delhi, Dec. 9: A television series that showed a "passionate kissing scene" between two women has run into trouble for airing lesbian romance, that too at a non-restricted hour, weeks after the country's broadcast watchdog had hauled up another channel for suggesting a similar encounter.

Officials in the information and broadcasting ministry said they were taking the issue seriously because homosexuality was still illegal in India.

The latest controversy is over the MTV India show The Big F - hosted by actor Gautam Gulati - that revolves around relationship fantasies of youngsters and is broadcast every Sunday at 7pm, well within the 5am-11pm "non-restricted" time slot when "adult" content is not allowed to be screened.

Sources said the ministry had received a raft of complaints and asked the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council (BCCC) to "look into the matter at the earliest".

"We have been getting complaints for the past two weeks from across the country," a senior official in the ministry's broadcasting division said. "The council should now watch the episode and issue notice to the channel if the content violated the obscenity clause of the programming code."

The episode, I kissed a Girl, aired on November 15, depicted acceptance of alternative sexuality by two women - a fashion designer and a model - and showed a kissing scene that lasted several seconds.

"Even if some progressive viewers find it okay, we are going by the rulebook," said a director in the ministry. "What most viewers have objected to is the broadcast of the show at prime time when many families with young kids sit together and watch TV."

A BCCC executive said the council would take up the matter at its next complaints review meeting in a few weeks.

An email query to the channel remained unanswered but a senior executive associated with MTV India, a channel popular with the young, said it would respond after it receives a "formal notice seeking explanation".

Anjali Gopalan, a gay rights activist, dubbed the I&B ministry's move "ridiculous". "If romance between a man and a woman can be shown in all its glory, what is wrong if the protagonists happen to be of the same sex?" Gopalan asked. "These ideas are ridiculous and regressive."

Last month, the BCCC had issued a notice to STAR World for suggesting a homosexual encounter and "denigrating women" in its popular soap, Grey's Anatomy, in an episode telecast in June. The notice had followed complaints from the ministry.

In the episode, a woman doctor is shown telling a male colleague how she had failed to please her partner.

The watchdog has already received a response from STAR World but is yet to decide on what action to take.