SC Pauses the telecast of a “UPSC Jihad” Show: Says “Tries to Vilify Muslims”

By Ishank Katyal

New Delhi: Seven former civil servants filed an application against a private TV channel Sudarshan TV for showing episodes on how Muslims are “infiltrating the civil services”. As a result, Supreme Court ordered to stop the airing of the show, calling the show is an attempt to vilify the community.
“You cannot target one community and brand them in a particular manner”. Said Supreme Court.
According to Justice DY Chandrachud , the power of electronic media to target a community and tarnish someone’s image is huge and cannot be tolerated.
The name of the show is ‘Bindas Bol’ which is hosted by the News editor-in-chief Suresh Chavhanke and is aired on Sudarshan TV.
“The anchor grievance is that a particular group is gaining entry into civil services,” he said. “How insidious is this? Such insidious charges put a question mark on UPSC exams, cast aspersion on UPSC. Such allegations without factual basis, how can this be allowed? Can sch programmes be allowed in a free society,” said the judge.
“Reputations can be damaged; image can be tarnished. How to control this? State cannot do this. It would be difficult for any government to regulate private channels.” Justice Chandrachur added.
The case was filed by seven bureaucrats- IAS (retd) Amitabha Pande, IFS (retd) Navrekha Sharma, IFS (retd) Deb Mukharji, IAS (retd) Ardhendu Sen, IAS (retd) Sundar Burra, IAS (retd.) Meena Gupta and IAS (retd) Pradeep K Deb. These bureaucrats also claimed that they are the members of informal collective group known as the Constitutional Conduct Group.
The Supreme Court of India has already declined to stay the telecast but also agreed to examine the larger issue as the court believes that this case will consider a right balance between the freedom of speech and right of every citizen to fair and equal treatment.