Kerala HC dismisses plea by Media One against Centre's order barring transmission

The Kerala High Court's single bench headed by Justice N Nagaresh today said that the report, submitted by the central government, "contains some serious issues regarding national security." The single bench accepted the Centre's argument to suspend the transmission citing security concerns.

Thiruvananthapuram: The Kerala HC on Tuesday dismissed the plea by Malayalam news channel Media One challenging the Centre's move to bar the channel's transmission.

The Union Government on Monday barred the telecast of Malayalam news channel citing "security reasons", but the Kerala High Court stayed the implementation of the order for two days. The Kerala High Court's single bench headed by Justice N Nagaresh today said that the report, submitted by the central government, "contains some serious issues regarding national security". The single bench accepted the Centre's argument to suspend the transmission over "security reasons".

Media one asked the court to give time for it to challenge the order in the division bench of the high court. Earlier, senior advocate S Sreekumar and advocate K Rakesh, who represented the media group, told the high court that the channel was not involved in any anti-national activity and urged it to direct the ministry to withdraw the order. The move to ban the channel evoked a sharp reaction from political quarters.

Leader of Opposition in Kerala Assembly, VD Satheesan slammed the I&B move. "The banning of telecast of MediaOne channel without citing any reason was undemocratic. This is against natural justice. The union government has a responsibility to cite the reason behind the ban. The government is trying to implement the agenda of Sangh Parivar which has been intolerant against unpleasant truths," he said, adding that the ban amounts to an "attack on media freedom".