New Delhi:
The Supreme Court today notified the Center of appeals against the ban on a controversial BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations related to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Hearing two petitions, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked for the original record of the order to remove the documentary from the public domain.
The petitions challenge the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media. The Center has never formally published the blocking order, according to a petition from lawyer ML Sharma, who called the ban on the two-part documentary “rogue, arbitrary and unconstitutional.”
A separate petition has been filed by veteran journalist N Ram, activist lawyer Prashant Bhushan and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
On January 21, using contingency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, the Center issued directions to block multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary “India: The Modi Question”.
Following the ban, the two-part BBC series has been shared by several opposition leaders, including Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, and student organizations and opposition parties have staged public screenings.
Students clashed with university authorities and police on several campuses after they were not allowed to hold screenings, some were also briefly detained.
The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has instructed Twitter and YouTube to block the first episode of the BBC documentary. British Parliament by Pakistani descent MP Imran Hussain.
The government has called the documentary a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
An inquiry appointed by the Supreme Court had found no evidence of wrongdoing by Prime Minister Modi, who was chief minister of Gujarat when riots broke out in the state in February 2002.