THE Supreme Court on Wednesday asked the Central Government and the Press Council of India (PCI) to file a response to a Public Interest Litigations (PILs) filed by Jamiat Ulama-I-Hind and others seeking directions to prevent the communalization of Nizamuddin Markaz issue by certain sections of Print & electronic media.
A three-judge bench headed by Chief Justice of India (CJI) S A Bobde also directed petitioners to implead the News Broadcasters Association (NBA) as a party respondent in the array of parties.
During the hearing, the CJI sought to know from the Centre and PCI as to what action they initiated especially in view of Section 19 (Power to prohibit transmission of certain programmes in the public interest and Section 20 (Power to prohibit the operation of a cable television network in public interest.—) of the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Act, 1995.
"Don't let people instigate law and order issues, these are the things that later become law and order issues", CJI SA Bobde remarked.
Petitioners also sought a direction to stop the dissemination of fake news and to take strict action against those spreading communal hatred.