New Delhi: Backing the right to freedom of expression, the Supreme Court stayed a Karnataka High Court order that had stopped Kannada news channel Power TV from broadcasting last month.
Emphasising its duty to intervene whenever the State attempts to suppress free dissemination of news and information, a bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) D Y Chandrachud said that the attempt to silence Power TV seemed to be a “sheer political vendetta” because the channel wanted details of a sex tape (ostensibly within broadcasting guidelines for such material).
The TV channel and its additional director Rakesh Shetty have been airing programmes against Janata Dal (Secular) leaders, including former Hassan MP Prajwal Revanna, who has been accused of sexually assaulting several women.
“The more you people argue in this case, the more we are sure it’s nothing but political vendetta and that we must step in to protect his right to free speech,” the bench, also comprising Justices JB Pardiwala and Manoj Misra, said.
“He (the channel) wanted to broadcast a sex scandal and the idea was to stop him from doing so. The idea is to completely blank out his voice. This is a sheer political vendetta and nothing else. And this court will be failing in its duty if it doesn’t allow him to exercise his rights,” the bench observed, as it stayed the order until July 15 when a detailed order is expected.
The Supreme Court’s intervention followed an earlier
Hearing petitions filed by JD(S) leader Ramesh Gowda and IPS officer BR Ravikanthe Gowda, a single-judge bench of Karnataka High Court issued an interim directive on June 25 halting Power TV’s broadcasts in June.
The high court said that the channel didn’t have a requisite licence from Information & Broadcasting ministry.
On July 3, a division bench of the high court deferred its final decision to the Centre, keeping the interim order in place.
The CJI-led bench noted that the high court restraint was based on a showcause notice issued on February 9 against the channel’s licence holder Mitcon Infraprojects for continuing to broadcast Power TV despite lapse of the licence.
“So, the high court issued the order based on your notice and then you issue a restraining order based on the high court order. How can that be?” the court asked solicitor general (SG) Tushar Mehta, who appeared for the Centre.
When the SG submitted there were serious allegations against the channel, including subletting its uplink and downlinking licence, the apex court said that the issue would require independent adjudication and that the high court’s order cannot become the basis for the Centre to stop the channel from broadcasting.
The channel’s additional director filed a personal affidavit in Supreme Court, stating that Power TV was being constantly pressured to stop its “expose” on the alleged sex scandal involving Prajwal and actions against it was for its broadcast.
Prajwal, who was arrested on May 31 immediately after his return to India, faces three cases of sexual abuse — allegations from a former house help, a former member of Hassan zilla panchayat and a woman in her 60s.
Prajwal, grandson of JD(S) patriarch and former Prime Minister HD Deve Gowda, failed to retain the Hassan Parliamentary constituency in the recent Lok Sabha polls.
Karnataka MLA HD Revanna, Prajwal’s father, was also arrested after a police complaint was lodged by a former house help. Revanna is out on bail.
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