The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Union and sought a report within three weeks over an appeal against the ban on a BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his links to the 2002 Gujarat Muslim genocide.
The top court asked for the original record of the order to take down the documentary from the public domain.
The apex court acted on a petition by Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, senior journalist N Ram and lawyer Prashant Bhushan 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.
Days after release, the Union government, using emergency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the documentary “India: The Modi Question”.
However, the two-part BBC series has been shared by various opposition leaders and students’ organisations and opposition parties have organised public screenings.
