Updated: August 29, 2020 7:53:25 am
Suresh Chavhanke, owner and editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News. (Proceedings)
Delhi High Court on Friday prevented the private television channel Sudarshan News from broadcasting a program that Jamia Millia Islamia university students said he tried to incite hatred against them.
Also on Friday, the Supreme Court, after hearing from another petitioner on the same issue, refused to stop broadcasting the show, saying it was important to be prudent when imposing a pre-broadcast court order.
The program, which had claimed to be a “revelation” about the “infiltration of Muslims” in the public administration, did not air at the scheduled time of 8 pm on Friday.
Suresh Chavhanke, owner and editor-in-chief of Sudarshan News, said in a statement: “In order to respect the suspension order of the Delhi High Court, we have stopped the television broadcast of today’s ‘Bindas Bol’ program. Today’s ‘Bindas Bol’ theme was based on the ‘Jihad of the bureaucracy’. Chavhanke claimed that this was the “first time in television news history that a program was stopped prior to airing.”
A little over an hour before show time, however, Chavhanke had posted on Twitter: “Aaj raat 8 go down show hoga. (The program will air at 8 o’clock tonight) ”. The channel had not received an official notice, he said, “if we receive that notice, we will read it and give our version at 8 pm.”
The High Court petition, filed by current and former Jamia students, stated that the program sought to “defame, attack and incite hatred against Jamia Millia Islamia, her former students and the Muslim community at large.”
Chavhanke had tweeted a promo for the show a few days ago, using the expression “Jamia ke Jihadi.”
In both the promo video and his tweet on Friday, Chavhanke used the hashtag “UPSC_Jihad.” In the statement issued on Friday night, he stressed that “We strongly support the content shown in the promotion of our program.”
Navin Chawla, a sole judge of the Superior Court of Justice, issued notices to the central government, UPSC, Sudarshan TV and Chavhanke, and scheduled the matter for September 7.
“Having considered the presentations made, until the next hearing date, defendants number 3 and 4 cannot air the program titled ‘Bindas Bol’, scheduled to air today at 8 pm,” Judge Chawla said in his order.
The petition in the Supreme Court was filed by attorney Firoz Iqbal Khan. A bench of judges DY Chandrachud and KM Joseph refused to order a pre-broadcast stay on the show and issued notices to the Center, the Press Council of India, the Association of News Broadcasters and Sudarshan News, which can be returned before September 15.
“At this stage, we have desisted from imposing an interlocutory pre-broadcast injunction based on an unverified transcript of a forty-nine second clip,” the judges said. “The Court should be prudent in imposing a prior restriction on the publication or dissemination of opinions.”
The Court, however, noted that “by virtue of the legal provisions, the competent authorities have powers to ensure compliance with the law, including the provisions of criminal law designed to guarantee social harmony and the peaceful coexistence of all communities.” .
In issuing the notices, the court said that “prima facie, the petition raises important questions related to the protection of constitutional rights,” and “along with freedom of expression, there are other constitutional values that must be balanced and preserved, including the right fundamental to equality and fair treatment for all segments of the citizenry ”.
The guilty plea was based on the transcript of the promotional clip that “aired on the television channel during the last week.” The petitioner stated that “the clip contains statements that are derogatory to the entry of Muslims into the public administration.”
The High Court petition, filed by attorney Shadan Farasat on behalf of the petitioners, said that in the promotion, Chavhanke “openly engaged in hate speech and defamation against the students of Jamia Millia Islamia and the Muslim community, and has claimed that the success of Jamia Milia Islamia students in the Civil Service 2020 exam represents a conspiracy to infiltrate the civil service by Muslims. “
Permanent lawyer Anurag Ahluwalia, who appeared for the Union of India, stated that “the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting received several complaints and a notification was sent to defendant number 3 (Sudarshan News) requesting clarification.”
Late at night, Chavhanke tweeted: “… We have all the facts. We will go to the Supreme Court and to the Superior Court and we will tell them how fraud has been perpetrated on them. How, to crush our rights, the order of the Supreme Court was hidden ”.
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