New Delhi: The Supreme Court will hear on 6 February a public interest litigation challenging the central government’s decision to ban a controversial BBC documentary on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
The documentary, titled “India: the Modi Question,” reportedly takes a look at the rise of Prime Minister Narendra Modi in the Bharatiya Janata Party and his alleged “silent” involvement in the 2002 Gujarat riots and the 2020 Delhi riots.
A week after the documentary was released in the United Kingdom on 17 January, unauthorised clips started circulating in India, prompting the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting to ban it. The Ministry of External Affairs called it “propaganda”.
On Monday, advocate M.L. Sharma mentioned the matter for an early hearing before a bench headed by Chief Justice of India D.Y. Chandrachud.
Questioning the government’s ban, Sharma said it was “malafide, arbitrary and unconstitutional”.
Attempts to screen the documentary in India, particularly across university and college campuses, have not gone down well with authorities, resulting in scuffles and detention of students.
Multiple students’ unions have criticised the ban, with one saying “the block on the documentary is a block on our right to free media and education”.
Last Friday, the Information Ministry used its emergency powers and also banned over 50 links of the documentary on YouTube and Twitter.
The action was taken under Rule 16 of the Information Technology Act, 2021 which states: “In case of emergency nature, the secretary, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting may, if he is satisfied that it is necessary or expedient and justifiable for blocking for public access of any information or part thereof through any computer resource and…as an interim measure issue such directions as he may consider necessary to such identified or identifiable persons, publishers or intermediary in control of such computer resource hosting such information or part thereof without giving him an opportunity of hearing.”
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