New Delhi, July 10: UTV Bindass has been ordered to run an apology scroll for four days for showing two episodes of Emotional Atyachaar, a youth reality show, that included “sex being discussed openly during prime time”.

The action by the Broadcasting Content Complaints Council — a wing of the information and broadcasting ministry — against the telecast of the episodes with “vulgar and indecent” content in 2011 stood out.

Industry watchers couldn’t recall a channel having to run an apology so long over offending content. Bindass has been asked never to repeat such episodes and tone down its sexual content.

“The visuals and dialogues are not suitable for children and unrestricted public exhibition. The episodes showed sex being discussed openly during prime time,” the council said today in its order that followed a Delhi High Court directive to take action.

“We direct the channel to show an apology scroll for four days between July 15 and July 18 and warn it for the future,” the order added. An official said the scrolls would appear at the bottom of the screen once in two hours.

After reviewing both episodes, the council was of the “considered opinion” that the format of the programme violates the Indian Broadcasting Federation’s self-regulatory content guidelines as well as constitutional rights as it involved serious privacy issues, the order said.

Emotional Atyachaar is based on a theme testing loyalty and infidelity of one partner who suspects the loyalty of the other. The suspecting partner carries a test on the other with the help of the channel, which plants a model to lure him or her. What follows is telecast.

The high court, hearing a PIL against the show, had on April 9 this year asked the Centre and council to verify the allegations that the show was “indecent and vulgar”. Besides seeking action against Bindass, the PIL had sought a regulatory mechanism to enforce the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995, to curb obscenity.