The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre on a tranche of petitions challenging the government’s decision to block public access to a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the 2002 Gujarat riots, India Today reported.
Noting that people have been accessing the blocked BBC documentary, the top court asked the Centre to file its reply within three weeks. It also directed the Centre to produce original records relating to the order to take down tweets sharing links to the controversial documentary on the next date of hearing.
The order was passed by the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh while hearing the petitions by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, journalist N Ram, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan and advocate ML Sharma.
The PIL filed by advocate ML Sharma called the ban on BBC documentary India: The Modi Question “malafide, arbitrary and unconstitutional”. Another petition was filed by senior journalist N Ram and advocate Prashant Bhushan over taking down tweets with links to the BBC documentary.
Last month, the government directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary “India: The Modi Question”. The Ministry of External Affairs had trashed the documentary as a “propaganda piece” that lacks objectivity and reflects a colonial mindset.
The two-part documentary series produced by the BBC claims it investigated certain aspects relating to the communal violence that erupted in Gujarat when PM Narendra Modi was the chief minister of the state.
The Centre’s move to block YouTube videos and Twitter posts came under severe criticism by opposition parties, who called it “censorship”.
But in defiance of the government directive, student bodies and youth wings of opposition parties organised screenings of the documentary on college campuses and in public spaces in various states.
