The Discovery Channel Wednesday sent a legal notice to Mumbai-based Catholic Secular Forum (CSF) for falsely claiming that it had withdrawn the telecast of the controversial feature documentary on Jesus Christ.CSF had claimed that it had written to Discovery Channel's Delhi office asking it to refrain from broadcasting the feature documentary 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus', scheduled for a worldwide premier, in India.
The Roman Catholic body had also threatened to launch an agitation against the channel.
CSF had claimed that the channel had expressed regret that it had hurt religious sentiments and had decided not to telecast the documentary in India.
In a statement, the channel said, 'Media reports have erroneously claimed that Discovery Communication India has withdrawn the television programme 'The Lost Tomb of Jesus' as a result of pressure from a local religious group. This assertion is false and inaccurate.'
'Discovery Communication India had never scheduled the telecast of the programme in India, as demonstrated by our programme guide, monthly press kit and website,' it said.
The channel also clarified that it had not produced any DVDs or books relating to the documentary as claimed by CSF.
CSF had said that it would take up the issue with the Indian government on the possibility of banning a book by the film's director, which it claimed was slated to be released before Easter and also ban the sale of DVDs.
CSF had alleged that the channel was trying to 'cash in on the hype that the documentary has generated'.
The channel in its legal notice has asked the CSF to refrain from making false and misleading statements regarding the documentary.
'The CSF claims are totally false.
In fact CSF had written to us on March 4, stating that they were still 'awaiting for a written' response from us on the issue. So how could they claim on March 2 that we had withdrawn the telecast of the documentary and claim that we had also expressed our regrets,' said Rajiv Bakshi of the channel told IANS.
'According to our programme guide, monthly press kit and our website the documentary was never scheduled for telecast in India, so the question of us withdrawing as a result of pressure from the CSF does not arise,' Bakshi said phone from Delhi.
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