New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday issued a notice to the Center to respond within three weeks to the PILs filed against the ban on the controversial BBC documentary on the Prime Minister.
The BBC had released a documentary ‘Questions for India-Modi’ about the 2002 Gujarat riots. The central government banned the screening of the film. Senior journalist N. Ram, lawyer Prashant Bhusan and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra had filed a public interest case in the Supreme Court against this. Similarly, senior advocate BL Sharma had also petitioned for the cancellation of the restraining order.
A bench comprising Justices Sanjeev Khanna and MM Sundaresh, who heard these petitions, said, “The central government has issued a notice to respond to these petitions within three weeks. It has also directed the central government to submit the original documents for the ban of this documentary.
In this regard, the bench said, “We are sending a notice. It will be answered within three weeks. After that, join the case in two weeks. The retrial of these cases is listed for April.”
Earlier, the Center had on January 21 ordered the removal of links to the controversial BBC documentary ‘Questions for India-Modi’ from YouTube and Twitter, following emergency directions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021.
