Supreme court prohibits state government from taking action against 2 telugu channels: said that the time has come to define sedition

Amid increasing trend of registering cases under the sedition sections, the Supreme Court on 31^st May 2021, ordered the Andhra government not to take punitive action against two Telugu channels for sedition.

The apex court said that the time has come when we define the extent of sedition. The court made this remark while staying action against two Telugu channels from Andhra Pradesh.

The Supreme Court said that it directed the Andhra Pradesh government that it should not take any drastic measures against the news channels-TV5 and ABN Andhra Jyoti. Justice DY Chandrachud said, “The Andhra Pradesh government is suppressing the channels by registering sedition cases against them. It is time the court defines sedition”.

A special bench headed by Justice DY Chandrachud sought a response from the state government within four weeks on the petitions of these channels. Charges have been leveled against these channels for various offences, including sedition. The bench also comprises Justice L Nageswara Rao and Justice S Ravindra Bhat. The bench also made it clear that no coercive action would be taken against the employees of news channels related to that FIR.

The Supreme Court said,“We are of the view that the provisions of the Indian Penal Code - 124A (sedition) and 153 (promoting enmity between different classes) need to be interpreted, especially on the issue of freedom of press and expression.”

The said news channels aired the ‘objectionable’ speech of Raghu Ram Krishna Raju, the rebel MP of the ruling YSR Congress party in Andhra. Hence the state government had leveled sedition charges against those channels. MP Raju is criticizing his own government’s Covid policies. On this, the YSR Congress government also arrested Raju and filed a case on him for sedition. Raju has been granted bail by the Supreme Court on 21 May.

Both the aforementioned news channels of Andhra had filed a petition to the Supreme Court stating that the Andhra government had recently violated an order given by the court in which the government was instructed not to  punish  citizens making complaints related to the Covid epidemic.

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Dr. Deepak Miglani, Email id.:- legalbuddy@gmail.com

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