New Delhi, Apr 5 (PTI) The Supreme Court on Wednesday quashed Centre’s telecast ban on Malayalam news channel MediaOne and pulled up Ministry of Home Affairs for raising national security claims out of “thin air” without facts.
Following are the important quotes from the Supreme Court judgment: * An independent press is vital for the robust functioning of a democratic republic.
* National security claims cannot be made out of thin air and there must be material backing such inferences.
* The press has a duty to speak truth to power, and present citizens with hard facts enabling them to make choices that propel democracy in the right direction.
* Restriction on the freedom of the press compels citizens to think along the same tangent. A homogenised view on issues that range from socioeconomic polity to political ideologies would pose grave dangers to democracy.
* Critical views of the channel, MediaOne, on policies of the government cannot be termed ‘anti-establishment’. The use of such a terminology in itself represents an expectation that the press must support the establishment.
* The action of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to deny a security clearance to a media channel on the basis of the views which the channel is constitutionally entitled to hold produces a chilling effect on free speech, and in particular on press freedom.
* Criticism of a governmental policy can by no stretch of imagination be brought within the fold of any of the grounds stipulated in Article 19(2).
* The State is using national security as a tool to deny citizens remedies that are provided under the law. This is not compatible with the rule of law.
* Sealed cover procedure cannot be introduced to cover harms that could not have been remedied by public interest immunity proceedings. PTI PKS ABH ABH
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