Balance to be drawn between free speech & a community’s dignity: SC

The Supreme Court on Monday said that “if it was a balance between free speech and the dignity of an individual, we can tell him to go file a civil suit. But here, the balance is to be drawn between free speech and a community”. The Supreme Court was hearing the case related to airing of a programme
by Sudarshan News channel which has been in controversy. The programme “Bindas Bol” is related to Muslims entering Civil Services which the channel had likened to “infiltration” and “jihad”.

Appearing for the Sudarshan channel, advocate Vishnu Shankar Jain said that the first four episodes
were in consonance with the programme code and that remaining episodes would be in the same vein. “I am requesting the SC to give me an opportunity to view all four episodes and pausing every minute and then if you find that we violated that law, then we will abide by the decision,” he added. Jain also claimed that the interventions have distorted the facts of the case.

The court asked: “Do you think that you followed programme code and whether you will telecast the remaining shows in the same tone and tenor?”

“Yes, we have followed the programme code and compiled with the law and the remaining episodes will
also be on the same line,” Jain replied. Senior Advocate Mukul Rohatgi appeared for the News Broadcasters Federation (NBF) and said that the NBF would inform the court how a self-regulation
method should be drawn up. “I have nothing to say on Sudarshan TV. I am on a larger issue of self-regulation and on a different note than News Broadcasters Association (NBA),” he added.

In the two-hour-long hearing, the bench said that constitutional values and human dignity are needed to be protected, but the court cannot “become the enforcers of programme code”. The Supreme Court adjourned the hearing in the Sudarshan TV matter to Wednesday, 23 September.

Earlier, Editor-in-Chief of the channel, Suresh Chavhanke, had filed an additional affidavit before the
Supreme Court, saying that it will strictly comply with all the laws while airing the remaining episodes of the UPSC series in “Bindas Bol”. He further stated in the affidavit that it will abide by and comply with the programming code and directions of the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting strictly.

Chavhanke, in his affidavit, highlighted two shows aired by another channel NDTV, one in September 2008 titled “Hindu Terror: Myth or Fact”, and another in 2010 titled “Is Saffron Threat Real?” which he submitted “pained” and “shocked” him.