The Supreme Court today issued notice to the Centre over appeals challenging the ban on a controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots.
Hearing two petitions, a bench led by Chief Justice of India DY Chandrachud asked for the original record of the order to take down the documentary from the public domain.
The petitions challenge the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media. The Centre never formally publicised the blocking order, said a petition by lawyer ML Sharma, calling the ban on the two-part documentary "malafide, arbitrary, and unconstitutional".
A separate petition has been filed by veteran journalist N Ram, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra.
On January 21, the Centre, using emergency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial BBC documentary "India: The Modi Question".
