New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a plea seeking direction to restrain the Central government from banning the BBC documentary relating to the 2002 Gujarat Riots. The top court also asked the Centre to produce original records relating to the censoring of the documentary.
The court has given the Centre three weeks time to file the response and posted the matter for hearing in April.
The documentary series, titled 'India: The Modi Question', has been dismissed as a biased "propaganda piece" by the government.
A bench of justices Sanjiv Khanna and M.M. Sundresh took up a petition filed by senior journalist N. Ram, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and advocate Prashant Bhushan, and also another petition moved by advocate M.L. Sharma.
The plea filed by Sharma contended that the BBC documentary on the Gujarat riots has been banned from viewership in India by any means under rule 16 of the IT Act 2021 due to "fear of truth".
His plea sought a direction for quashing the January 21 order under the IT Act being illegal, malafide and arbitrary, unconstitutional and void ab-initio and ultra vires to the Constitution of India, IANS reported.
Sharma's plea mentioned that the BBC documentary reflects the true facts with original recordings of the victims of the 2002 riots as well as other concerned persons involved in the scenario of the riots, and it can be used for judicial justice.
A separate petition has been filed by journalist N. Ram, Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra, and advocate Prashant Bhushan against taking down their tweets with links to the documentary.
"The content of the BBC documentary and the tweets by Petitioner No. 2 (Bhushan) and 3 (Moitra) are protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution of India. The content of the documentary series do not fall under any of the restrictions specified under Article 19(2) or restrictions imposed under Section 69A of the IT Act, 2000," reported IANS citing the plea filed by Ram and others.
"Censoring freedom of speech and expression of the petitioners by the executive through opaque orders and proceedings is manifestly arbitrary as it frustrates the fundamental right of the petitioners to effectively seek judicial review of administrative actions under Articles 226 and 32 of the Constitution of India in violation of the basic structure of the Constitution of India," the plea argued, mentioned the IANS report.
Notably, the controversial documentary has been banned on social media and online channels by the Central government. However, some students organised its screening on campuses of various universities across the country prompting authorities to act.