The News Broadcasting and Digital Standards Authority has censured Zee News for broadcasting allegedly misleading and communally sensitive content that relied on unverified material to falsely implicate Muslims, Bar and Bench reported.Retired Justice AK Sikri, the chairperson of the news regulator, held in two May 19 orders that the broadcasts on the TV channel violated core principles of accuracy, verification and communal harmony.The regulator directed the channel to remove the content in one case and issued a warning in the other.In one matter, a complainant highlighted a show on Zee News about an incident during the Kanwar Yatra in Delhi where broken glass was found scattered on a road.During the Kanwar Yatra, devotees, called Kanwariyas, walk hundreds of kilometres to collect water from the Ganga near Haridwar and carry it back to their home states to offer at temples. The devotees mainly come from Uttar Pradesh, Haryana, Rajasthan, Delhi and Madhya Pradesh.The glass had been reportedly shattered after an e-rickshaw carrying glass panels was hit. However, during a broadcast on July 13, 2025, the channel conducted a debate allegedly framing the incident as a possible deliberate conspiracy targeting the pilgrims, Bar and Bench reported.The programme was found to have leading questions by the anchor, amplified claims made by some participants and broadcast unverified allegations that the act had been intentional, the legal news outlet reported.The regulator found that Zee News built a narrative based on speculation and political statements without having independently verified the allegations.“In the absence of such verification of facts, it was highly improper for the news channel to conduct a debate that had the potential to stigmatise a community and create communal disharmony,” Bar and Bench quoted the order as having said.The news channel said that it had later broadcast a clarification based on a statement by the Delhi Police that there had been no evidence of any conspiracy.The regulator held that the clarification had been broadcast for less than a minute and “appeared to be lip service rather than corrective action, particularly given that the original broadcast lasted 55 minutes”, Bar and Bench reported.The channel was ordered to remove the content from all platforms.In the second programme about alleged attacks on Hindu temples in Bangladesh on December 1, 2024, the channel had broadcast visuals of a deity being desecrated and attributed the incident to Bangladesh, while the footage was of a traditional ritual from West Bengal, Bar and Bench quoted the complainant as having contended.The news regulator said that the channel had failed to substantiate its claim that the video was from Bangladesh and therefore, the visuals were misleading.It noted that the video had already been removed by the channel and cautioned the broadcaster.Edited by Leah Thomas.