Supreme Court issues notice to Centre on petitions against blocking of BBC documentary on PM Modi

The Supreme Court served notice to the Centre on Friday on a slew of petitions contesting the government's move to restrict public access to a BBC documentary about Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Gujarat riots in 2002.

The apex court ordered the Centre to submit its response within three weeks after noting that people had been able to see the BBC documentary that had been restricted. Additionally, it instructed the Centre to present actual documents pertaining to the directive to delete tweets that contained links to the contentious documentary on the day of the next hearing.

While hearing petitions from Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, journalist N Ram, senior advocate Prashant Bhushan, and advocate ML Sharma, a bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and MM Sundresh issued the order.

The prohibition on the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question was described as "malafide, capricious, and unconstitutional" in a PIL filed by counsel ML Sharma. Another petition was filed by senior journalist N Ram and counsel Prashant Bhushan in response to the removal of tweets including links to the BBC documentary.

The government ordered Twitter and YouTube to restrict links to the documentary "India: The Modi Question" last month. The documentary was derided by the Ministry of External Affairs as a "propaganda work" that lacked objectivity and displayed a colonial mentality.

The BBC's two-part documentary series claims to have researched specific parts of the communal violence that occurred in Gujarat during PM Narendra Modi's tenure as chief minister.

The Centre's effort to prohibit YouTube videos and Twitter posts came under strong criticism by opposition parties, who branded it "censorship".

In violation of the government injunction, student organisations and youth wings of opposition parties around the country held screenings of the documentary on college campuses and in public places.

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