The Union government on Wednesday told the Supreme Court that it cannot disclose the reasons behind its ban on the Malayalam news channel MediaOne TV as it can have “unimaginable and far-reaching” consequences on national security.
“There is no need to inform the channel owners about the reason behind declining security clearance”, read the affidavit filed by the Ministry of Home Affairs.
The Union further stated that principles of natural justice are not applicable when issues relating to national security are involved, Live Law reported. The intelligence inputs relating to the security clearance cannot be shared with channel, Union government said.
The Union said that it can produce the files before the Supreme Court, as it did before the High Court.
MediaOne TV had gone off air on January 31 after the Union suspended its telecast citing “security reasons.” On March 2, the Kerala High Court upheld the ban on MediaOne TV citing national security. The High Court judges had said that certain confidential files provided by the Union government had convinced them that the channel posed a threat to national security.
The channel then approached the Supreme Court, the court granted a stay on the ban. The top court also directed the Union to produce the files based on which it had refused to renew the license of the news channel.
Senior Lawyer Dushyant Dave, appearing for the channel, had said that the channel had functioned for 11 years.
“My license was for 10 years. 2 months after my actual period expired, they allowed me to continue. They granted me downlinking in 2019 for a period of 5 years,” he submitted.
“No media, publication, or channel will be saved if this is accepted. everybody can be shut down tomorrow,” Dave said.
“How can a democratically elected government deny to produce records and deny freedom of speech and expression. this is completely covered by a judgment of this court. This channel is being shut down just because it is owned by minority individuals,” he said.
Mediaone TV is the only Muslim-owned private satellite channel in India. “For 6 weeks we are shut down simply because we are run by some members of the minority community. What else it is,” Dave said.
Global journalist bodies, Opposition leaders and media fraternity across the country had backed the channel and called out the Union government’s action “arbitrary”.
In March 2020, the Union govt imposed a 48-hour ban on MediaOne for its reportage on the Delhi pogrom alleging “channel seems to be critical towards Delhi Police and RSS.”
