Clarion India
NEW DELHI – Responding to a plea complaining that New Delhi’s Tablighi Jamaat event was being used by the media to demonise the entire Muslim community, the Supreme Court said Monday it cannot gag the media and asked petitioner Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind to make the Press Council of India (PCI) a party in the plea.
The apex court also said it will hear the plea later, after Press Council has been made a party in the plea.
Jamiat Ulema-e-Hind had filed the petition in the Supreme Court last week in the wake of hate campaign against Muslim community after the Tablighi Jamaat preachers infected with the COVID-19 due to an event at its headquarters in New Delhi. It had sought direction to the media “to stop dissemination of fake news” in this regard.
The plea stated that certain sections of the media had been using “Communal headlines” and “bigoted statements” to demonise and blame the entire Muslim community of deliberately spreading the corona virus across the country, which had in turn threatened the lives of Muslims.
“Actions of certain sections of the media are also against the letter and spirit of the Code of Ethics and Broadcasting Standards issued by the New Broadcasters Association, which is the regulatory body for news channel. Under the Code, ensuring neutrality and objectivity in reporting is one of the foremost principles of media regulation,” the plea highlighted