‘Clampdown on press freedom’: MPs and activists criticise ban on Mediaone channel

Several parliamentarians, lawyers, editors and rights activists came out in support of Malayalam news channel MediaOne on Monday, saying the revocation of its licence by the Centre on “unspecified” security concerns represents “a clampdown on broader press freedom in India”

Several parliamentarians, lawyers, editors and rights activists came out in support of Malayalam news channel MediaOne on Monday, saying the revocation of its licence by the Centre on “unspecified” security concerns represents “a clampdown on broader press freedom in India”.

They hoped the double-bench of the high court, which has reserved its judgement on the appeal filed against the single-bench order, would protect the channel’s fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and restore its transmission licence. (Getty Images/iStockphoto)

They also expressed “disappointment” with the decision of the Kerala High Court in the matter, saying it refused to overturn the cancellation of the news channel’s licence by the government and protect the fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression.

“The decision of the single-judge bench of the Kerala HC was based on a ‘sealed cover’ envelope provided by the (Union) Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA), the contents of which were not shared with MediaOne News,” they said in a joint statement.

They hoped the double-bench of the high court, which has reserved its judgement on the appeal filed against the single-bench order, would protect the channel’s fundamental right to freedom of speech and expression and restore its transmission licence.

Congress’ Digvijay Singh, DMK’s Kanimozhi, TMC’s Mahua Moitra, Shiv Sena’s Priyanka Chaturvedi, RJD’s Manoj Kumar Jha, CPM’s Elamaram Kareem, CPI’s Binoy Viswam, RSP’s N K Premachandran, AIUDF’s Badruddin Ajmal and IUML’s E T Mohd Basheer are among the parliamentarians who signed the joint statement, released at a press conference here.

The 42 eminent people who signed the joint statement include chairman of The Hindu newspaper N Ram, editor of Telegraph R Rajagopal, executive editor of The Caravan magazine Vinod K Jose, editor of MediaOne Pramod Raman, former judge of Bombay High Court B G Kolse Patil, former DGP of Uttar Pradesh K S Subramanian and noted author Tushar Gandhi.