NDTV Imagine was  warned on Dec.1. 2009 by the Information and Broadcasting  Ministry for having telecast an episode of the TV series Bandini on 4 March which "offended against good taste and decency."

            This related to the showing of visuals of a poor girl being tortured by another woman. The contents of the episode also appeared to be "portraying women in a negative role." After considering the reply of the channel to a show cause notice issued on 28 July and placing it before the Inter-Ministerial Committee examining the content ofTV channels the Ministry has advised the channel to strictly adhere to the Programme Code prescribed under the Cable  & Television  (Regulation) Act and "resist from showing programmes which portray women in negative light."

           The channel was told that "strict compliance to above direction should be ensured by NDTV Imagine Channel. Any further violation may entail stringent action." The channel had in its reply on 10 August stated that the story of the programme Bandini revolves around a Gujarati “Mahiyavanshi” family residing in a fictional village called Dharampur in Gujarat.

         In the episode, Santoo was shown recollecting the harassment meted out towards her by Tarulataben who had accused Santoo of stealing a gold earring. However, nowhere in the episode had the torture meted out by Tarulataben on Santoo been glorified or hyped, the channel had explained. "These incidents/acts, scenes are only to demonstrate the unfortunate treatment that could be carried out by people who have unnecessary prejudice against some people. It was also shown that Dharampratap Mahiyavanshi condemned Tarulataben for falsely accusing Santoo," NDTV Imagine said.

      The IMC said the telecast had shown visuals of a lady alleging a poor girl of theft and torturing her for a great length of time and portrayed women in a negative role.