The court was acting on a public interest petition (PIL) filed by Sudhir Kumar, an activist, who said he had learned from media reports that the documentary ‘India Who Lit the Fuse’ portrayed India’s 172 million Muslims as living in fear of the Narendra Modi government.
Team Clarion
NEW DELHI — The Allahabad High Court on Friday restrained Qatar-based Al Jazeera TV channel from airing a documentary film on Indian Muslims in India, stating that “evil consequences” concerning social and communal harmony are likely to occur if the film is allowed to be released.
According to the court order, LiveLaw reports, the bench comprising Justice Ashwani Kumar Mishra and Justice Ashutosh Srivastava directed the Central government and the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to take “appropriate measures” in law to ensure that the documentary ‘India Who Lit the Fuse’ is not released unless its contents are examined by the authorities and required certification or authorisation is obtained from the competent authority.
The court also asked the Union of India, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Central Board of Film Certification, as well as Al Jazeera, who are respondents in the case, to file their responses to the petition by July 6, the set date for the next hearing.
The court was acting on a public interest petition (PIL) filed by Sudhir Kumar, an activist, who said he had learned from media reports that the documentary portrayed India’s 172 million Muslims as living in fear of the Narendra Modi government. He also alleged that it showed state agencies acting against the interests of Muslims.
On this basis, Kumar argued, the documentary should not be broadcast as it would disrupt social harmony.
“Considering the evil consequences that are likely to occur on the broadcast of the film … we are of the view that the broadcast be deferred pending consideration of the cause in the present petition,” the court said in its ruling. The judges also said the government should ensure the documentary was not shown until it had acquired the “requisite certification”.
The order comes in response to a public interest litigation (PIL) filed by one Sudhir Kumar, who has sought the restraint order on the film and “appropriate action” to ban Al Jazeera Media Network Private Ltd. operating from Doha.
The petitioner has also demanded that the Centre, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, and the Central Board of Film Certification must “review and certify” the film before its broadcast and that an inquiry must be conducted to scrutinise the film credentials.
The ruling has dismayed free speech activists who accuse the government of systematically shrinking the space for dissent.
Supreme Court lawyer Colin Gonsalves said that unlike films – which need to be certified before they could be publicly screened – documentaries did not need any prior approval. Further, he said, the Supreme Court had clarified numerous times that the right to free speech included the right to express opinions critical of the government.
“The court has said Indians have the right to hear such hostile opinions and the government has to tolerate things it might find hateful”, media reports quoted him as saying.
Gonsalves said the court’s pre-emptive ban was illegal. “The state can only restrict a broadcast if it might affect the security of the nation or disrupt good relations with neighbouring countries,” he said.
“The state can only ban a documentary once it has been screened. If it’s screened and causes riots, let’s say, then it can be banned but not pre-emptively like this, purely on the basis of speculation,” he was quoted as saying.
