Supreme Court to consider petitions against govt order blocking BBC documentary
People watch the BBC documentary India: The Modi Question on a screen installed at the Marine Drive junction under the direction of the district Congress committee in Kochi on January 24, 2023. PHOTO AFP NEW DELHI - India's Supreme Court will consider filings next week against a government order that will block the sharing of clips of a BBC documentary that questioned Prime Minister Narendra Modi's leadership during riots in 2002 in the western state of Gujarat.
The government has banned the sharing of any clips from the film, India: The Modi Question, as a biased propaganda piece, which was released last week.
Chief Justice D Y Chandrachud said in court on Monday that the Supreme Court will take up the petitions next week.
A New Delhi-based lawyer, M L Sharma, opposes the move by the government in one of the petitions to the Supreme Court.
A separate petition by lawyer Prashant Bhushan, journalist N. Ram and opposition politician Mahua Moitra focused on the order to remove social media links to the documentary.
In a Twitter comment on the second petition, Law Minister Kiren Rijiju said this is how they waste the precious time of the Honourable Supreme Court, where thousands of people are waiting and seeking dates for justice. ALSO READ: India police detain students for BBC documentary on Modi gathered at a Delhi police station.
Modi, who aims to win a third term in the elections next year, was chief minister of Gujarat in February 2002 when a suspected Muslim mob set fire to a train carrying Hindu pilgrims.
One of the worst outbreaks of religious bloodshed in independent India was caused by the incident.
Over 1,000 people were killed in reprisal attacks across the state, more than 1,000 of whom were Muslim, as crowds walked through the streets for days, targeting the religious minority. The toll was more than twice that, at about 2,500, according to activists.
On January 25, 2023, Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi waits for the arrival of Egyptian President Abdel Fattah El-Sisi at Hyderabad house in New Delhi, India. PHOTO AP Modi denies that he did not do enough to stop the riots. He was exonerated in 2012 after an inquiry by the Supreme Court and a petition questioning his exoneration was dismissed last year.
READ MORE: India blocks BBC documentary on PM Modi from airing
The BBC said the documentary was rigorously researched and involved a wide range of voices and opinions, including responses from people in Modi's Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party.