NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to Center looking for its response to blocking a BBC documentary‘India: A Question of Modi’, and directs the government to place in front of the government the original records of the decision-making process for the government to review.
However, a bench of Judges Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh denied a request to issue a temporary order directing the Center to make its restraining order public and said it would self-examine the document on next hearing.
The court is hearing a joint petition by journalist N Ram, TMC MP Mohua Moitra and advocate Prashant Bhushan, opposing the Center’s decision to block the documentary.
Senior lawyer CU Singh, representing the petitioners, alleges that the Center invoked emergency powers under the Information Technology Act and passed a “secret” order to block the documentary. When the bench told him why he should first approach the high court, Singh replied that the top court, in the Center’s plea, had moved all the cases pending on the constitutional validity of the Act for itself and the SC must be the one who should also hear this petition.
Singh filed that the government is obligated to place the order in the public domain but that has not been done so far. Begging for a temporary order, he said actions were taken against the students for attempting to screen the documentary.
However, the bench rejected the plea and said it would examine the original records related to the decision and then decide to pass the order, and bring the case to trial in April. It says taking action against students is a separate issue.
SC has also issued notices to Google India and Twitter, which are also parties to a lawsuit by the plaintiffs for blocking sharing of the documentary on their platforms and removing shared posts. shared by petitioners.
However, a bench of Judges Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh denied a request to issue a temporary order directing the Center to make its restraining order public and said it would self-examine the document on next hearing.
The court is hearing a joint petition by journalist N Ram, TMC MP Mohua Moitra and advocate Prashant Bhushan, opposing the Center’s decision to block the documentary.
Senior lawyer CU Singh, representing the petitioners, alleges that the Center invoked emergency powers under the Information Technology Act and passed a “secret” order to block the documentary. When the bench told him why he should first approach the high court, Singh replied that the top court, in the Center’s plea, had moved all the cases pending on the constitutional validity of the Act for itself and the SC must be the one who should also hear this petition.
Singh filed that the government is obligated to place the order in the public domain but that has not been done so far. Begging for a temporary order, he said actions were taken against the students for attempting to screen the documentary.
However, the bench rejected the plea and said it would examine the original records related to the decision and then decide to pass the order, and bring the case to trial in April. It says taking action against students is a separate issue.
SC has also issued notices to Google India and Twitter, which are also parties to a lawsuit by the plaintiffs for blocking sharing of the documentary on their platforms and removing shared posts. shared by petitioners.
