The Supreme Court on Wednesday sought response from the Andhra Pradesh government on a plea filed by the owners of Sakshi TV alleging the television channel’s blackout in the state was guided purely by political considerations.
The channel was promoted by former chief minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy and his wife is its current chairperson. It approached the court through its holding company Indira Television Private Limited and a whole time director claiming that AP State Fibernet Limited , a state-owned distribution firm, was directed to take the channel off air after the Chandrababu Naidu government came to power in June last year.
Following this, threats were issued to multi service operators (MSO) to stop beaming the channel, the plea claimed.
A bench of justices PS Narasimha and AS Chandurkar issued a notice to the state and the MSOs and posted the matter after three weeks.
“Issue notice on the prayers for interim relief as well as on the writ petition,” the court said.
Senior advocate V Giri appearing along with advocate Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki for the petitioner channel said, “We cannot function in the given circumstances. The state cannot do this.”
{{/usCountry}}Senior advocate V Giri appearing along with advocate Mahfooz Ahsan Nazki for the petitioner channel said, “We cannot function in the given circumstances. The state cannot do this.”
{{/usCountry}}The petition pointed out that the coordinated suppression of a media outlet by state is “politically motivated” as AP State Fibernet Limited abruptly disconnected the channel without giving any prior notice. This was followed by similar disconnections by major MSOs across the state.
Senior advocate Niranjan Reddy also appearing for the channel said that selective targeting of the petitioner violates Article 14 for being arbitrary and throttles freedom of speech and expression, guaranteed to media outlets under Article 19(1)(a).
The election results in the state were announced on June 4 last year. Within a fortnight on June 20, Andhra Pradesh State Fibernet disconnected the petitioner’s channel. Against this order, the channel filed appeals before the Andhra Pradesh high court and the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT).
The high court on June 28, 2024, and TDSAT on July 5, 2024, directed that there should be unhindered and uninterrupted transmission of Sakshi TV. However, by then, the channel claimed it was taken off air by majority MSOs, leading to the channel’s black out across 80% of the state.