NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court will hear the petitions on February 6 against the central government’s decision to ban a BBC documentary criticizing Prime Minister Narendra Modi on social media. The petition was filed by senior journalist N. Ram, lawyer Prashant Bhushan, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra and lawyer ML Sharma.
There are arguments in the petitions that the documentary cannot be banned because it is not favorable to those in power, the ban order was not issued, the documentary links were changed using the sections of the guidelines (Code of Digital Media Ethics) which were aim to regulate online news portals including those stayed by the High Court.
Law Minister against petition
∙ Criticism of Union Law Minister Kiren Rijiju for approaching the Supreme Court against the banning of the BBC documentary. Rijiju said the action was a waste of precious time of the Supreme Court and thousands of people waiting for justice. Mahua Moitra scoffed at Rijiju’s comment saying ‘everything is as a king would say’.
Russia criticizes BBC
Moscow ∙ Russia criticizes the BBC for a controversial documentary Russia has accused the BBC of attacking other independent forces as well as itself. In response to questions about the controversial documentary, Russian Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said the BBC was not an independent organization and was working under certain interests. They also noted that India has responded correctly to this.
English Summary: Petitions to ban BBC documentaries
