Rijiju slams PIL against Centre's BBC documentary ban, calls it ‘waste of Supreme Court's precious time’

The Supreme Court agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Centre's ban on BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The hearing will take place on February 6.

Updated on: Jan 30, 2023, 15:49:04 IST

By HT News Desk | Edited by Aryan Prakash

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Union law minister Kiren Rijiju on Monday slammed the petition filed in Supreme Court challenging the Centre ban on the BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Union minister Kiren Rijiju had termed the BBC documentary a part of 'malicious campaign' launched both within and outside the country. (HT File)

“This is how they waste the precious time of Hon'ble Supreme Court where thousands of common citizens are waiting and seeking dates for Justice”, the minister tweeted. Rijiju's tweet comes on a day when the Supreme Court agreed to hear a public interest litigation (PIL) against the Centre's ban. The hearing will take place on February 6.

The petition was filed by Advocate ML Sharma who has called the ban on ‘India: The Modi Question’ arbitrary, malafide and unconstitutional. Trinamool MP Mahua Moitra was quick to hit back at Rijiju. “All the king’s men…. Couldn’t put Humpty together again”, she tweeted.

The Centre recently ordered Twitter and YouTube to block links sharing the documentary which chronicles the events during the 2002 Gujarat riots when Modi was the state chief minister.

Senior officials of the home ministry, external affairs ministry and the information and broadcasting ministry had found the documentary to be an attempt to ‘ cast aspersions on the authority and the credibility of the Supreme Court of India’.

The Ministry of External Affairs termed the documentary a ‘propaganda piece’ that lacks objectivity and has a colonial mindset. Rijiju had alleged the documentary a part of a ‘malicious campaign’ launched both within and outside India. He had said some people considered the BBC above the Supreme Court.

The minister has said that the minorities and every community in India are moving ahead positively. He declared that PM Modi's voice is the ‘voice of 1.4 billion Indians’.

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HT News Desk
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