How the Government Is Using Powers It Doesn’t Have to Curb Freedom of Speech

The show-cause notices issued to three private TV channels for their coverage of the Yakub Memon execution has no basis in law and raises disturbing questions about freedom of expression in the country

Information and Broadcasting minister Arun Jaitley. Credit: PTI

The show-cause notice issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry on August 7 to three channels threatening “action” against them for having allegedly disrespected the judiciary and the President of India by their coverage of Yakub Memon’s execution has been rightly criticised for the implications it has for freedom of speech and expression in the country.

But the notices sent to Aaj Tak, ABP and NDTV 24×7 also betray a dangerous confusion of thought on the part of the government as to the extent of its own powers to act against private broadcasters.

In its notices, the I&B ministry threatens to cancel the license of these channels for “uplinking and downlinking” for having violated the Programme Code contained in rules framed under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995.

These show-cause notices raise a fundamental question: Does a citizen have the right to criticise a constitutional authority such as the judiciary or the President for acts done in the discharge of their public duties? While the judiciary has an official monopoly over decisions of innocence and guilt, nothing prevents ordinary citizens from reading a judgment and deciding for themselves on its rights and wrongs.

Indira Jaising is a senior advocate in the Supreme Court and a former Additional Solicitor General of India.

http://thewire.in/2015/08/10/how-the-government-is-using-powers-it-doesnt-have-to-curb-freedom-of-speech-8151/