- Tuesday, March 04, 2025
By: Shubham Ghosh
The Supreme Court of India on Friday (10) dismissed a plea for a complete ban on the BBC over its controversial documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the riots in his home state Gujarat in 2002 when he was its chief minister, calling it “entirely misconceived”.
The apex court questioned how can a documentary affect the country and rejected the petition by Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta seeking ban on Britain’s national broadcaster in India.
“Completely misconceived, how can this be argued also? You want us to put complete censorship? What is this?” asked a two-judge bench of the top court.
Pinky Anand, a senior lawyer representing the petitioner, argued that the BBC was “deliberately maligning India’s image”. The petition also sought an investigation by the elite National Investigation Agency into the “conspiracy” behind the documentary.
The documentary is a “result of deep conspiracy against global rise of India and its prime minister”, the petition said.
“The documentary film by BBC relating to Gujarat violence 2002 implicating prime minister Narendra Modi is not only reflective of anti-Narendra Modi cold propaganda broadcast to tarnish his image alone but this is anti-Hinduism propaganda by the BBC to destroy the social fabric of India,” it alleged.
“Let us not waste any more time. The writ petition is entirely misconceived and has no merit. Thus, dismissed,” the judges said.
The two-part BBC series titled ‘India: The Modi Question’ was taken down from public platforms last month. On January 21, the Centre, using emergency powers under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, directed blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary.
The Supreme Court earlier this month served notice to the Narendra Modi government on petitions including by veteran journalist N Ram, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress parliamentarian Mahua Moitra, which asks that the government be stopped from censoring the documentary.
The petitions challenged the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media.
The government never formally publicised the blocking order, said a separate petition by lawyer ML Sharma calling the ban on the two-part documentary “malafide, arbitrary, and unconstitutional”.
The documentary has been shared by various opposition leaders, including Moitra, and students’ organisations in various universities in India. The opposition parties also organised public screenings.
There were even incidents where students clashed with college authorities and the police in several campuses after not being allowed to hold screenings of the BBC documentary.
The Indian government called the documentary a “propaganda piece” that lacked objectivity and reflected a colonial mindset.
