NEW DELHI: Freedom of expression and expression is the “most abused right” in recent times, the Supreme Court said Thursday and stopped the Center for his “evasive” and “brazen” affidavit about the media coverage of the Tablighi Jamaat event earlier this year.
A bank headed by Chief Justice SA Bobde was listening to pleas from Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and others who alleged that a section of the media was spreading community hatred towards the Tablighi Jamaat congregation during the start of the Covid-19 pandemic.
“Freedom of expression is the most abused right in recent times,” the supreme court said.
The court noted this when lead defender Dushyant Dave, who appears in Jamaat, said that the Center in its affidavit has stated that the petitioners are trying to muzzle freedom of expression.
To this, the bank said: “They are free to make any statement in their affidavit, as you are free to present any argument they want.”
The court was upset by the fact that instead of secretary of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, an additional secretary filed the affidavit containing “unnecessary” and “nonsensical” dislikes regarding the media reports on the Tablighi issue. Jamaat.
“You cannot treat this court the way it is doing in this case,” said the court, which also includes Justices AS Bopanna and V Ramasubramanian.
The superior court requested an affidavit from the I&B secretary detailing the steps taken in the past to stop motivated media reporting in such cases.
The bank has released the matter for hearing after two weeks.
During the hearing conducted via videoconference, the court said that it has examined the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act of 1995 and section 20 deals with the power to prohibit the operation of the cable television network in the public interest .
“We want to tell you something, this power can be exercised in the TV program but not in the transmission signal. This act doesn’t help. The government has submitted an affidavit in which this notice has been issued, ”the court observed.
Dave spoke of power under the Cable Television Act and said that the government has exercised its power correctly many times.
The court told Attorney General Tushar Mehta that the additional secretary has filed an affidavit and has not addressed the allegations.
“This is a nonsensical claim,” he said, adding, “This is an evasive type of affidavit.”
In August, the Center had told the high court that an attempt by a Muslim body to obtain a blanket “gag order” in all the media to prevent them from reporting on the Markaz Nizamuddin issue would effectively destroy the freedom of knowledge of the citizenship and the right of journalists to ensure an informed society.
The government had said that, in the absence of specific information about any objectionable news published or broadcast by a specific channel / news agency, the Constitution and applicable statutes do not grant it any authority to unilaterally pass any censorship orders under the networks. cable television. Rules.
In its affidavit field in response to Jamiat’s plea, the Center had said: “Attempts to seek a blanket ‘gag order’ against all media regarding the Markaz Nizamuddin issue will effectively destroy the freedom of the citizen to know the affairs of the respective sectors of society in the nation and the journalist’s right to guarantee an informed society. ”
The Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind filed a plea in the high court seeking instructions from the Center to stop the spread of “fake news” related to a religious gathering in Markaz Nizamuddin and to take strict action against those responsible.
It has alleged that the unfortunate incident in Tablighi Jamaat was being used to “demonize” and blame the entire Muslim community and tried to prevent the media from publishing or broadcasting those reports.
The Tablighi Jamaat congregation at Markaz Nizamuddin in central Delhi in March was accused of accelerating the spread of the new coronavirus, and its assistants allegedly carried the infection to different parts of the country.
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