AMN / WEB DESK
The Supreme Court on Friday issued notice to the Centre and sought a report within three weeks over an appeal against the ban on a controversial BBC documentary ‘India: The Modi Question’. The Court asked for the original record of the order to take down the documentary from the public domain.
The court was hearing a petition by veteran journalist N. Ram, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, asking that the Centre be stopped from censoring the documentary. The petitions challenge the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media.
On January 21, the Centre, using emergency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, issued directions for removing multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.
After the ban, the two-part BBC series has been shared by various opposition leaders, including Mahua Moitra, and students’ organisations and opposition parties have organised public screenings. Following this, students clashed with college authorities and the police in several campuses after not being allowed to hold screenings.