In the wake of the controversial documentary related to the 2002 Gujarat riots, the petition seeking a complete ban on the news website BBC in India said that the documentary was the result of a deep conspiracy against the global rise of India and its Prime Minister.
New Delhi: The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed a plea seeking a complete ban on news website British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) in India in the wake of a controversial documentary related to the 2002 Gujarat riots, saying it was a "completely wrong idea".
A bench of Justices Sanjiv Khanna and M M Sundaresh passed the order while hearing a petition filed by Hindu Sena president Vishnu Gupta and a farmer Birendra Kumar Singh.
"The writ petition is completely false and has no merit, hence it is dismissed," the bench said.
At the outset of the hearing, Justice Khanna said, "This is a completely wrong idea and there is no merit in it. How can you even debate it? I think it (the petition) is wrong."
Senior advocate Pinky Anand, appearing for the petitioners, urged the apex court to look into the timing of the release of the documentary and said the situation is such when the UK Prime Minister is an Indian.
He said India is emerging as an economic power and has now become the fifth largest economy in the world.
"Do you think this documentary will make any difference," the bench told advocate Pinky Anand. Do you want us to impose a complete ban?"
Anand argued that similar things had happened during the Nirbhaya incident, the Kashmir dispute and the Mumbai riots. "Don't waste our time now," the bench said while dismissing the plea.
Alleging that the BBC was biased in india and its government, the petition said the documentary was "the result of a deep-rooted conspiracy against the global rise of India and its prime minister".
According to LiveLaw, the petition also sought an inquiry into the BBC's "anti-India" reporting. It called the documentary an "anti-Hindu propaganda" aimed at tarnishing the image of not just Modi but of the whole of India.
"India's overall development has accelerated since 2014 under the prime ministership of Narendra Modi. This anti-India lobby, the media, especially the BBC, is not digesting it. Therefore, the BBC has been biased against India and the Government of India."
The apex court had on February 3 sought responses from the Centre and other parties on separate petitions challenging the government's decision to ban the BBC documentary.
The petitioners on whose pleas were issued notices by the apex court include journalist N. Ram, Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, lawyer Prashant Bhushan and advocate M.L. Sharma.
The BBC's documentary 'India: The Modi Question' states that the investigation into the Gujarat riots conducted by the UK government (which has so far remained unpublished) found Narendra Modi directly responsible for the violence.
It also talks about tension between Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Muslims of the country. It also explores claims regarding their role in the large-scale communal violence in Gujarat in the months of February and March 2002, in which over a thousand people lost their lives.
The second episode of the two-part documentary talks about the violence against Muslims and the discriminatory laws brought in by his government after Modi came to power at the Centre – especially after he came to power again in 2019. It described Modi as "extremely divisive".
On January 21, the Narendra Modi-led BJP government at the Centre had directed social media platforms Twitter and YouTube to block links to the documentary titled 'India: The Modi Question'. Meanwhile, there was a controversy over the screening of the documentary in the campuses of different states of the country.