sc on bbc row: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a petition seeking a complete ban on the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India. The top court termed as “completely misconceived” the petition, which was filed by Vishnu Gupta, president of Hindu Sena, and Birender Kumar Singh, a farmer.
This order was passed by the division bench of Justice Sanjeev Khanna and MM Sundaresh. “The writ petition is totally misconceived and has no merit and is accordingly dismissed,” the bench said.
Alleging that the BBC is biased against India and the Indian government, the petition alleged that its documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi “is the result of a deep-rooted conspiracy against the global rise of India and its Prime Minister”.
What plea charges?
“The BBC’s documentary film on the 2002 Gujarat violence features Prime Minister Narendra Modi as a reflection of the chilling anti-Narendra Modi propaganda being circulated not only to tarnish his image, but also to destroy the social fabric of India by the BBC.” is anti-Hindu propaganda,” alleged the petition.
The top court had on February 3 sought response of the Center and others on separate petitions challenging its decision to block the documentary.
The petitions on which notice was issued by the apex court have been filed by veteran journalist N Ram, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan and lawyer ML Sharma.
The apex court had also on February 3 directed the central government to produce the original records relating to its decision to block the BBC documentary. Earlier on January 21, the government had issued instructions to block several YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.
(With PTI inputs)