The Supreme Court sent notice to the Centre today and asked for a report on the appeal against the blocking of a controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and charges related to the 2002 Gujarat riots within three weeks.
The Supreme Court requested a copy of the original documentation of the decision to remove the documentary.
The petitions contest the use of emergency authorities to obstruct the documentary and take down social media links. According to a related appeal filed by lawyer ML Sharma, the Center never formally announced the blocking decision, which he described as “malafide, arbitrary, and unconstitutional.”
Veteran journalist N Ram, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra filed a plea, which was heard by the court asking that the Centre be stopped from censoring the documentary.
On January 21, the Center issued directives for the blocking of multiple YouTube videos and Twitter messages containing links to the controversial documentary “India: The Modi Question” under the emergency provisions of the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
According to the petitioners, the Centre must publish the emergency blocking orders within 48 hours as per the guidelines.
After the ban, the two-part BBC series has been shared by various opposition leaders, including Mahua Moitra, and students’ organizations and opposition parties have organized public screenings.
After being denied permission to hold screenings, students fought with college administrators and the police on various campuses. Some of them were also reportedly jailed.
The Information and Broadcasting Ministry told Twitter and YouTube to block the first episode of the BBC documentary, reports said after British Prime Minister Rishi Sunak distanced himself from the series, saying he “doesn’t agree with the characterization” of his Indian counterpart in the UK’s parliament by Pakistan-origin MP Imran Hussain.
The documentary has been labeled by the administration as “propaganda” that lacks objectivity and exhibits a colonial mentality.
No evidence of wrongdoing by PM Modi, who was the Chief Minister of Gujarat when riots broke out throughout the state in February 2002, was discovered by an investigation ordered by the Supreme Court.
