PEMRA bans TV show ‘Hadsa’, says it ‘tarnishes’ Pakistan’s image

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) has prohibited the TV drama “Hadsa” because it contains sequences that are similar to an infamous gang rape case. The PEMRA claims that the show “tarnishes” the country’s reputation by portraying it as a “unsafe place for women.”

PEMRA bans TV show ‘Hadsa’: “Regulators decide to take the show off the air due to its similarities with the real case of a French-Pakistani mother who was rape in front of her young children after running out of fuel near the eastern city of Lahore.”

The Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) issued the decision on Wednesday night. “Portrayal of such (a) heinous act will not only trigger the trauma of that unfortunate victim but would also tarnish (the) country’s image,” the order stated.

“In deeply patriarchal Pakistan, where women are occasionally treat as second-class citizens and where the percentage of rape convictions is rumor to be as low as 0.3%, sexual abuse is rampant.”

The 2020 Lahore highway rape case, in which local authorities criticized the victim for traveling alone at night without a male companion, triggered nationwide demonstrations.

The woman, a resident of France, had received repeated criticism from then-police head Umar Sheikh, who claimed she had probably “mistook that Pakistani society is just as safe” as her native nation.

However, PEMRA claimed on Wednesday that the television show “Hadsa,” which debuted last week, would lead foreign viewers to mistakenly “perceive Pakistan as (an) unsafe place for women,” adding that it did not present a “true picture of Pakistani society.”

“Legal Complaint Filed Against TV Programme ‘Hadsa’ Amidst Rape Victim’s Discomfort and Societal Reflections”

On behalf of the rape victim, attorney Muhammad Ahmad Pansota told AFP that he had filed a complaint against the programme with PEMRA.

She genuinely told me that she needs to go through the full ordeal again every time she watches an episode or how other people react to it, he added. “She’s not very at ease with that,” I said.

Episodes four and five of ‘Hadsa’ portray a gang abducting and assaulting a woman and her son after their car breaks down; later in the storyline, it is unveiled that the character was subjected to rape.

Hadiqa Kiani, who plays the woman in the series, claimed it was not based on actual events before it was edited.

She said on the social networking platform X that “the horrifying act of rape and violence happens far too frequently in our society.”

“‘Hadsa’ is not based on the story of any one individual; rather, it is based on a sickly prevalent aspect of our reality.”

Following the Lahore event, criticism of victim-blaming and dismal conviction rates led to legal changes, such as the creation of special courts and the chemical castration of serial rapists.

“In 2021, the court sentenced two men to death for their participation in the rape; however, their execution has not taken place yet.”

Earlier this year, authorities prohibited Wikipedia for containing “blasphemous content,” and censors faced issues with the highly praised transgender romance movie “Joyland,” along with the Barbie movie.