On Wednesday, the Apex Court ordered the Centre & the Press Council of India (PCI) to respond to a plea filed by Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind & other minority organisations seeking a direction to the Centre to stop the media from communalising the Tablighi Jamaat incident, which is linked to the spread of Coronavirus.
A Bench led by CJI Sharad A. Bobde asked the PCI & the Centre as to what action could be taken against the media channels under Sections 19 & 20 of the Cable Television Networks Act, 1995.
Senior Lawyer Tushar Mehta, for the Jamiat, said the plea raised a serious issue concerning minority rights. CJI said the very fact that this was being taken up judicially apparently showed the seriousness of the court.
The SC scheduled the case for hearing after 2 weeks.
The pleas had said that certain sections of the print & electronic media were spreading bigotry & communal hatred in relation to the Tablighi Jamaat conference held in the Nizamuddin Markaz area.
The Jamiat writ, filed through advocate Ejaz Maqbool, sought a direction to the Ministry of Information & Broadcasting to identify & take strict action against sections of the media that were communalising the Nizamuddin Markaz issue.
The plea said the “unfortunate incident of the Tablighi Jamaat was used to demonise & blame the entire Muslim community”. Certain sections of the media, instead of exercising restraint, reported the incident with a communal flavour. This may perpetrate hatred.
The petition said Delhi had already witnessed one of the worst riots in Feb. The situation there & in the rest of the nation was already tense & sensitive.
The plea said that Communally flavoured reporting would only lead to further deterioration of circumstances. Media should tread with caution.
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