Questioning the ban on Malayalam news channel MediaOne, the Supreme Court said the centre has imposed restrictions in the name of national security without disclosing specific reasons.
In January, the channel went off air after the ministry of information and broadcasting refused to renew its licence. The ministry of home affairs had also refused to renew the uplinking permission, citing national security as a reason. On Tuesday, MediaOne’s lawyer had argued in court that security clearance from the home ministry is not a requirement while renewing a channel’s broadcast licence.
On Wednesday, a bench of Justices DY Chandrachud and Hima Kohli continued hearing the channel’s plea against the Kerala high court order upholding the ban.
Justice Chandrachud pointed out that the government was not “saying they have committed a crime under the law”. “Even when a crime is conducted under the law and a chargesheet is filed after investigation, the essence of the investigation is disclosed in the chargesheet. However sensitive your investigation is… once you complete the investigation and file a chargesheet, the chargesheet discloses the material on the basis of which you register an offence. We are not even at that threshold. Here you are denying a security clearance,” he said, according to the Indian Express.
Addressing additional solicitor general KM Nataraj, who was appearing for the centre, Chandrachud reportedly said that even in the case of detentions under the NSA, the detainee “has to be given the grounds of detention”.
“You may redact your sources of information, because the Ministry of Home Affairs may have sources of information it has to protect but can you deny the information on the basis of which you are arriving at this conclusion?” the court then asked, according to the paper.
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