'Absolutely Misconceived': Supreme Court Dismisses Plea Seeking Ban on BBC

The petition was filed by the Hindu Sena President in the aftermath of the BBC documentary on Gujarat riots.

(Photo: Altered by The Quint)

Stating that the petition is “absolutely misconceived”, the apex court on Friday, 10 February, dismissed a plea seeking a ban on the operations of British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India. 

The petition was filed by Hindu Sena President Vishnu Gupta in the aftermath of the BBC documentary on Gujarat riots. The documentary is alleged to have taken a critical view of Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was the chief minister of Gujarat during the time of the riots.

The petitioner had alleged that the channel was taking an “anti-India” position.

What did the petitioner argue? Appearing for the petitioner, Senior Advocate Pinky Anand, according to LiveLaw, said:

“Kindly see the background when the documentary happened. Today you have a position, when you have an Indian as the Prime Minister of the UK. India is rising as an economic power.”

The senior advocate also asked the bench to post the matter along with the batch of petitions challenging Centre’s order for blocking public access to the documentary. 

Further, the petitioner had sought the initiation of an NIA investigation against the “anti-India and anti-Indian government reporting/documentary films/short films including its employee journalist in India.”

What did the court say? 

“How can this be argued? You want us to put complete censorship? What is this?” Justice Sanjiv Khanna asked the petitioner.

Thereby, stating that the “writ petition is entirely misconceived” and “has no merit”, the bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundersh dismissed it.