The Supreme Court pulled up the Ministry of Home Affairs for raising national security claims out of 'thin air' without facts.
Published Apr 05, 2023 | 12:27 PM ⚊ Updated Apr 05, 2023 | 7:28 PM
The apex court allowed the channel to continue until the renewal of permission was granted.
The Supreme Court on Wednesday, 5 April, quashed the Centre’s order denyong security clearance to Malayalam news channel MediaOne, and also pulled up the Ministry of Home Affairs for raising national security claims in “thin air” without facts.
A bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud set aside the Kerala High Court order which had upheld the Centre’s decision to ban the channel’s telecast on security grounds.
The top court said critical views of the channel against government policies cannot be termed as anti-establishment as an independent press is necessary for robust democracy.
“National security claims cannot be made out of thin air, there must be material facts backing it,” the bench said.
The top court was hearing the plea of the news channel against the Kerala High Court’s order which had upheld the Centre’s decision to ban its telecast on security grounds.
While stating that an independent press is important for functioning of society, the Supreme Court directed the Ministry of Information Broadcasting to renew the license of the channel within four weeks.
The top court allowed the channel to continue until the renewal of permission was granted.
“Some of the reports cited by IB are that minorities favoring reports were telecast, there was critique of UAPA, NRC, CAA and criticism of judiciary and executive… such reports are just inference of what is available in the public domain. There was nothing to show terrorist links,” barandbench.com quoted the court as saying.
Earlier, senior advocate Dushyant Dave and advocate Haris Beeran — representing the media company Madhyamam Broadcasting Ltd, the owner of MediaOne — had argued that restrictions on free speech and the press should be within the ambit of “reasonable restrictions under Article 19(2) of the Constitution”.
Dave told the court that it should not allow such bans, adding that, otherwise, “no media or publication is safe. Everybody can be shut down anytime”.
According to a report in The Quint, the Centre made at least two attempts to stop broadcasts of MediaOne, citing “national security” reasons.
While in January 2022, the I&B Ministry ordered closure of its operations on “national security” grounds, the channel was sent a showcause notice citing the same reason in 2016.
The channel’s broadcast was also shut down for 48 hours in February 2020, “in view of its extensive coverage of the Delhi riots. The same time, another Malayalam news channel Asianet was also asked to halt its broadcast for two days”, according to The Quint.
MediaOne is owned by Madhyamam Broadcasting, a company under the Jamaat-e-Islami Hind (JIH).
(With inputs from PTI)
