When the Kerala High Court, on Tuesday, February 8, dismissed the plea filed by Madhyamam Broadcasting Limited and upheld the ban on Malayalam television channel MediaOne TV, it set a dubious and dangerous precedent, say experts. Several investors in the media outlet are said to be members of the Jamaat-e-Islami. The court took the decision after perusing official notings submitted in a sealed cover. The single judge bench concurred with the Government that in matters of national security, principles of jurisprudence need not apply. The court said that based on inputs from various intelligence agencies, the Union Home Ministry found that security clearance should not be renewed for the channel. Passing the order, the judge said that there were inputs that justified the decision. The single judge bench refused to accept the plea that security clearance by the Home Ministry was needed while applying for a license to uplink and not for renewals. Nor did the court entertain the plea that the order would render several hundred employees unemployed. Significantly, when a delegation of Members of Parliament from Kerala called on the Information & Broadcasting Minister Anurag Singh Thakur to lift the ban, the minister pleaded helplessness. His ministry, he held, had no role to play and that the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) would know the reasons. When the MPs thereafter met Home Minister Amit Shah in Parliament, he acknowledged that he had received their letter and had passed it on to the officials for their opinion.
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