NEW DELHI: “Entirely misconceived,” said the SC on Friday dismissing the petition by Hindu Sena chief Vishnu Gupta, head of the Hindu Sena, and Beerendra Kumar Singh, a farmer that sought to ban India ops of the British Broadcasting Corporation, or BBC, over its controversial two-part documentary on prime minister Narendra Modi.
“How can you even argue this? It is completely misconceived. How can you ask the court to ban the BBC?” Justice Sanjiv Khanna said.
The BBC’s documentary on Prime Minister Narendra Modi was allegedly the “result of a deep conspiracy against the global rise of India and its prime minister,” according to the complaint, which claimed that the BBC had a bias against India and the Indian government.
“The documentary film by BBC relating to Gujarat violence 2002 implicating Prime Minister Narendra Modi is not only reflective of anti-Narendra Modi cold propaganda broadcast to tarnish his image alone but this is anti-Hinduism propaganda by BBC to destroy the social fabric of India,” the plea said.
Authorities scrambled as BBC released the documentary “India: The Modi Question” and forbade anyone from posting snippets from the video or screening it. Several protests were reported from across the country precisely from varsities as students attempted to hold screenings on campus. The prohibition sparked an outrage and brought the documentary into the limelight, prompting users to share the movie clips on Twitter, Telegram, and WhatsApp.