Plea in HC against Ban on Media Coverage of Secretariat's Demolition

A plea has been filed in the High Court of Telangana by VIL Media, a private company, seeking a direction to permit the media to report & telecast the ongoing demolition of the secretariat at Saidabad here, as the media persons are restrained from covering the secretariat building.

Sampath, the lawyer for the petitioner, told the news agency, "We have filed a petition for the unreasonable restrictions imposed by Telangana government on the press. The demolition activity started from July 15 onwards. The Govt is not at all allowing the press irrespective of channels print or electronic media."

Sampath said that "Demolition of the secretariat is a public affair & everything happens in the public domain. People have the right to know everything. Right to inform & right to be informed are important in a democracy. The state government has curtailed these two basic rights with an executive order. These rights are guaranteed under Article 19(1) (a) of the Constitution of India".

He said that the health of democracy can be measured in terms of what extent the press is enjoying freedom.

He added that "This kind of situation in Telangana happened for the first time & that is why we have approached the High Court".

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