Challenge to BBC documentary ban: Supreme Court issues notice to Central government but refuses interim relief (for now)

The Supreme Court on Friday sought the response of the Central government on a plea challenging government orders to block the BBC Documentary titled, ‘India: The Modi Question’ relating to the 2002 Gujarat Riots on online platforms and social media [N Ram and ors vs Union of India and ors]..A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh, however, refused to pass any interim orders in the matter and posted the case for further consideration in April."Issue notice.. list in April 2023," the Court ordered. Senior Counsel CU Singh, representing the petitioners, sought an earlier date for the next hearing but the bench declined."There needs to be reply ..rejoinder. Counter to be filed within 3 weeks from service of notice and 2 weeks thereafter for rejoinder," the bench remarked.The Court also said that it cannot pass any interim order without hearing the government and directed it to produce all records on the next hearing date."Can we allow the interim prayer without hearing them? We direct respondents to produce original records in next date of hearing," the Court said..The BBC documentary examines the 2002 riots and the role allegedly played by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, who was then the Chief Minister of Gujarat.It has been blocked on social media and online platforms by the Central government. Nonetheless, it has been screened in a number of colleges and universities around the country..The Court was hearing two petitions, one filed by advocate ML Sharma, and the second by Trinamool Congress Member of Parliament (MP) Mahua Moitra, journalist N Ram and advocate Prashant Bhushan.Sharma in his petition claimed that the ban on the documentary was arbitrary and unconstitutional.Besides seeking a lifting of the ban, Sharma also sought investigation into those responsible for failing to contain the riots..The petition by Bhushan, Moitra and N Ram documentary, said that the documentary as well as tweets on the same by Moitra and Bhushan, are protected under Article 19(1)(a) of the Constitution.They argued that the government has not officially placed any document, order, or any other information in the public domain to explain the need for exercising emergency powers under Rule 16 of the Information Technology (IT) Act.Moreover, criticism of the government or its policies and even Supreme Court judgments do not tantamount to violating the sovereignty and integrity of India. Therefore, it was contended that the government has chosen expediency over necessity and proportionality in its response to the documentary. It was prayed that all orders directly or indirectly censoring the documentary be quashed. The plea also called upon the Court to prevent the respondent-authorities from giving effect to orders curtailing freedom of speech and expression without first putting them in the public domain on a centralised database. .[Read order]