BBC documentary: The Supreme Court has said it will hear a public interest litigation challenging the “ban” on the BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’ on February 6.
Advocate M L Sharma, who filed the petition, mentioned it before a bench presided by Chief Justice of India D Y Chandrachud. The plea seeks quashing of the January 21, 2023, order of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting “banning” the documentary. Sharma has termed the decision “illegal, malafide, arbitrary and unconstitutional.”
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Can Emergency provisions be invoked?
The question, he said is “whether without having an Emergency declared under Article 352 of the Constitution of India by the President, emergency provisions can be invoked by the central government?”
Though Sharma sought urgent hearing as he said, people were getting arrested, the CJI declined the request. He listed it for February 6 and told Sharma, “You can speak to the media elsewhere.” Advocate Sharma is a recurrent public interest litigant.
Another plea listed for hearing
The court also agreed to list for hearing a related petition by journalist N Ram, advocate Prashant Bhushan and certain others.
Senior Advocate C U Singh, who appeared for the petitioners, said the Centre had invoked emergency powers under the Information Technology Act to get the links removed from social media. Tweets by Ram and Bhushan were taken down, and students were being rusticated for screening the documentary, he said.
Though the orders are not yet in public domain, an official tweet said the blocking of the documentary was as per emergency powers, he added.
Petitioner Sharma also wants the court to examine the documentary and act against persons who were directly and indirectly responsible for the 2002 Gujarat riots.
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