The Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on February 6 over the Center's decision to ban the BBC documentary based on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
New Delhi: BBC documentary on PM Narendra Modi is a contentious issue. Several students tried to screen the documentary last week at various universities across the country. The rightist wing opposed its screening, so clashes took place between the two student unions.
In fact, the central government has banned the documentary in India. Regarding the issue, the Supreme Court is set to hear a petition on February 6 over the Center’s decision to ban the BBC documentary based on the 2002 Gujarat riots.
A bench comprising Chief Justice DY Chandrachud and justices P S Narasimha and J B Pardiwala took note of the submissions of lawyer M L Sharma and senior advocate CU Singh seeking urgent listing of their separate PILs on the issue.
Advocate ML Sharma filed a PIL calling the ban on India malicious, arbitrary, and unconstitutional. On the Modi Question next Monday, a hearing regarding N Ram’s petition—a senior journalist—to remove tweets containing links to the BBC programme will also take place.
Senior advocate C U Singh spoke about how N Ram and Prashant Bhushan’s tweets were purportedly deleted under emergency powers. Additionally, he said that Ajmer students were expelled for watching the BBC documentary online. The CJI declared, “We shall list.”
Recently, the Center issued instructions to Twitter and YouTube to disable links to the documentary India: The Modi Question. The documentary has been trashed by the Ministry of External Affairs as a “propaganda effort” that lacks objectivity and exhibits a colonial mentality.
