The Apex Indian Court today issued notice to the Centre and sought a report within three weeks over an appeal against the ban on a controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Supreme Court asked for the original record of the order to take down the documentary from the public domain.

The Supreme court acted on a petition by veteran journalist N Ram, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, asking that the Centre be stopped from censoring the documentary.

The petitions challenge the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media. The Centre never formally publicised the blocking order, said a separate petition by lawyer ML Sharma calling the ban on the two-part documentary "malafide, arbitrary, and unconstitutional".

On January 21, the Centre, using emergency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary "India: The Modi Question".

The Apex Indian Court today issued notice to the Centre and sought a report within three weeks over an appeal against the ban on a controversial BBC documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and allegations linked to the 2002 Gujarat riots. The Supreme Court asked for the original record of the order to take down the documentary from the public domain.

The Supreme court acted on a petition by veteran journalist N Ram, activist-lawyer Prashant Bhushan, and Trinamool Congress MP Mahua Moitra, asking that the Centre be stopped from censoring the documentary.

The petitions challenge the use of emergency powers to block the documentary and remove links from social media. The Centre never formally publicised the blocking order, said a separate petition by lawyer ML Sharma calling the ban on the two-part documentary "malafide, arbitrary, and unconstitutional".

On January 21, the Centre, using emergency provisions under the Information Technology Rules, 2021, issued directions for blocking multiple YouTube videos and Twitter posts sharing links to the controversial documentary "India: The Modi Question".