M K Venu - The Creeping Erosion of Free Expression
Make no mistake, the
government’s decision to put on hold the one-day ban on NDTV India is just
a tactical withdrawal on the part of the Modi-led government. The DNA of this
dispensation is not changing anytime soon. Such attacks on the media will
persist in the name of preserving
“nationalism” and “national security”. The
last time media organisations buried their differences and came out in protest was when
BJP goons in lawyers’ clothing tried to thrash journalists who had gathered to
cover the bail application proceedings of Kanhaiya Kumar earlier this year. The
right to freedom of expression was an issue there too. At that time, the media
had got a taste of the cynical manner in which the Centre used the Delhi
Police, which let the party stormtroopers do their job despite the Supreme
Court’s directive to maintain order outside the courts.
This time around, the
media rallied behind NDTV after the ban order and wholeheartedly condemned the
wanton attack on press freedom guaranteed under the constitution. The
government saw the growing protests across India – not just in Lutyens Delhi,
as some bhakts would like to believe – and decided to soften a
bit for now. The Editors’ Guild of India,
Indian Women’s Press Corp, Press Club of India and the Federation of Press
Clubs across 14 states all came out strongly in protest against the ban.
Meanwhile, NDTV has
filed a petition in the Supreme
Court and sought to get the ban order declared unconstitutional as it
violates the right to free expression under Article 19(1) (a) of the
constitution. The power to ban media channels under rule 6(1)(p) of the
Programme Code (prescribed under the Cable Television Network Rules 1994),
which deals with the coverage of terror attacks, needs to be examined in detail by the
Supreme Court. How could the mere mention of the existence of a fuel depot,
school and private quarters of soldiers inside the Pathankot base – all
information in public domain – be construed as compromising
national security? Is there an elaborate security protocol established by
the government and conveyed formally to media organisations for the coverage of
incidents such as the Pathankot attack? These are questions the Supreme Court
will surely examine.
The court will also examine the bigger question of whether
the scope of “reasonable restrictions” to freedom of speech is being illegally
expanded by the NDA government in the name of “national security”. These
critical questions are by no means resolved... read more:
