New Delhi: The Supreme Court will on Friday take up a batch of petitions challenging the Centre’s ban on the screening of the controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots, which shows Prime Minister Narendra Modi in bad light. According to the cause list uploaded on the apex court website, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh will consider the petitions filed by senior journalist N Ram, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and advocate Prashant Bhushan and another petition filed by advocate Prashant Bhushan. ML Sharma.
The two-part BBC documentary titled ‘India: The Modi Question’ has been in the news ever since its release. It has been dismissed by the government as a biased “propaganda piece”.
The petition filed by Sharma states that the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots was released for public viewing. However, due to the “fear of truth”, the documentary is banned in India from any viewership under Rule 16 of the IT Act 2021. Sharma’s petition termed the January 21 order as illegal under the IT Act, mala fide and arbitrary, unconstitutional and void ab initio and ultra vires the Constitution of India.
In his petition, the petitioner argued that the BBC documentary reflected the actual facts along with the original recordings of the victims of 2002 riots as well as other concerned persons involved in the riots scenario and can be used for judicial justice. Is. Journalist N. Ram, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and advocate Prashant Bhushan have filed a separate petition against the removal of his tweet with the link to the documentary.
“The contents of the BBC documentary and tweets of petitioners No. 2 (Bhushan) and 3 (Moitra) are protected under Article 19 (1) (a) of the Constitution of India. The contents of the documentary series are not covered under Article 19 (2) ) or the restrictions imposed under section 69A of the IT Act, 2000,” said the petition filed by Ram and others.
The petition by Ram and others argued that the top court has clearly laid down that criticism of the government or its policies or even criticism of a Supreme Court judgment does not amount to violating India’s sovereignty and integrity. Is.
“The curtailment of the freedom of speech and expression of the petitioners by way of opaque orders and proceedings by the executive is clearly arbitrary as it effectively amounts to judicial review of administrative actions under Articles 226 and 32 of the Constitution of India.” frustrates the fundamental right of the petitioners to the basic structure of the Constitution of India,” the plea added.
The central government has banned the screening of the BBC documentary and sharing of its links on social media and online channels. However, it has been screened in some universities across the country despite the Centre’s ban.