The Supreme Court lifted the ban on Media One channel, the Chief Justice said that criticism of the government’s policies through the media cannot be called anti-national.
New Delhi, April 5:
Generally, media channels praise and praise the government, but there are some journalistic organizations that criticize the policies of the government. Freedom of expression has become a problem in the current government. In such a situation, criticizing the government’s policy by an organization is being considered as taking a risk. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court said in one of its important decisions today that criticism of the government’s policies by the media cannot be called anti-national. It is the responsibility of the media to present the truth.
According to the report, a bench headed by Chief Justice DY Chandrachud made this strong comment rejecting the Centre’s decision to ban Kerala’s Media One channel.
The court said that for the strength of democracy, it is necessary for the media to remain independent. The media is not expected to present only the side of the government. The court rejected the government’s argument that it could provide the information to the court only in a sealed envelope due to national security concerns.
The court said that the appeal of national security cannot be made like this. Sealed envelopes should be used in very few cases and the government has to convince the court for this. It is not the prerogative of the government not to give information to the parties appearing against it in court. This is a violation of people’s rights.
On March 15, 2022, the court temporarily lifted the ban on Media One. The court had said that whether the intelligence input related to the channel should be shared with the channel would be decided later. During the hearing, Dushant Dave, the lawyer on behalf of the channel, said that the channel has been running for the past 11 years. The channel license was for ten years. Two months after the license expired, the central government extended the permission to broadcast.
Media One Channel has challenged the Kerala High Court decision in the Supreme Court. During the hearing on March 10, 2022, senior counsel Mukul Rohatgi and Dushant Dave said that Media One news channel has been on air for the past 11 years. Around 350 employees work in this channel. Rohatgi had said that the Kerala High Court decided on the basis of the sealed envelope report in the case.
Dushant Dave had said that this channel has two and a half million viewers. The channel was allowed to downlink by the central government in 2019. On March 2, 2022, the Kerala High Court refused to interfere with the central government’s decision. The Center had banned the channel on January 31, 2022.